Similar Paths
by opa1
Summary: AU: Olivia is a petite model and Fitz is an ex-boy band member turned solo artist. They both grew up in the lime light during their teen years; now how will they each navigate stardom and adulthood?
1. Chapter 1

**This idea popped into my head recently, hope you enjoy.**

 ***FYI: I'm going to be using Zayn's music as Fitz's in this story but I obviously own nothing.**

* * *

Fitzgerald Grant wasn't your typical "childhood star". He had been a part of the platinum selling boy group "Faze 3" with his longtime friends, Harrison and Huck from the age of 16 up until he was 22. Finding it difficult to adjust to life post- group split, Fitz found himself questioning his purpose and talent but because of the support he had from his family and his determination to have a successful career outside of the group, he was able to find his way. Though he sometimes missed the normal life he had prior to his superstardom, he knew his heart was always in the music above everything else and that he would always genuinely be happier performing on a stage rather than sitting behind a desk somewhere. So now at the age of 25 he had a contract with a new record label and his old manager, Cyrus Beene, back on his team, and he was ready to get in the studio and produce his first solo record.

 **Present day.**

Cyrus was making his way down one of the hallways of Apex Records as he discussed business details with Fitz on the phone "We have so much work to do, you need to finish the last track of the album and the exec's have a few suggestions for the girl part in the Pillowtalk music video and—"

Just as they were discussing this, Cyrus walked into the studio room where Fitz was, so he ended the call and looked at him from the other side of the glass where he sat with headphones hung around his neck.

Fitz sat up in his chair and looked at the producers in the room "See guys, I told you that he has a tracker on me somewhere!"

Cyrus shook his head "Like I was saying on the phone, you guys need to wrap this up within the next few days but first we have a meeting upstairs" he said pointing towards the door.

Fitz removed the headphones and left the booth, excusing himself and following Cyrus's lead towards the stairs. "What were you saying about the video?"

Cyrus coughed, "Oh, yeah, the exec's have a few ideas of who they think should play your love interest in the video"

"I already have my own idea of who I think should play the part"

Cyrus looked at him semi worried as they entered the room with the label executives and the director for the music video. Fitz always did march to the beat of his own drum so he knew this meeting was going to be interesting.

"So Fitz we're sure Cyrus has already informed you that we have some options for you. "We can either go with Adnan Sal—"

"Actually, I was thinking about Olivia Pope."

One of the exec's by the name of Tim asked "The model?"

Fitz shook his head confidently "Yeah, we've already known each other for years so it won't be awkward to film. She'd be perfect for it."

"I don't know" Apex Records President, Andrew Nichols, spoke up "I want to prevent a PR nightmare not create one" He said, trying to make a point without actually _saying_ it out loud.

Fitz waved his hand "Are you kidding me? You're talking about skin color? It's fucking 2016, drew. My real fans won't give a crap about any of that."

"Watch it" Andrew said firmly "It may be 2016 but people still have a problem with that shit. But if you really want her in it then I say go for it. I'm just doing my job in warning you about the potential backlash."

"I could care less about that bs. It's my music and I've made my decision."

The entire room was silent as they awaited Andrew's response. He rubbed his facial hair and turned to look at the entire room of people "… Well let's get her people on the phone then."

* * *

What to say about one of the top petite supermodels in the game right now? Lets see, Olivia Pope was not one of the models that gained fame over night. No, she had been in the game ever since she was 13 and she was now 24, with one goal in mind: being the best in the game. Her mother, Miya, had been her manager since she had started out and with that came a bumpy relationship at times; it wasn't awful but it wasn't always peaches and cream either. Their professional relationship often trumped their personal "Mother-daughter" relationship which had effected Olivia more than she would ever like to admit. Being a petite model unfortunately meant often having to prove yourself more so than a taller woman would in the modeling world, but over time Olivia gained a particularly confident ora that attracted go-see's and others in the fashion world which is how she became such a household name over the years.

"So yeah, we're on our way to this shoot in Malibu and you guys will find out what it's for in a few months. Stay tuned my loves." Olivia spoke as she stared at her iPhone as it recorded her snapchat. She was informing her fans about her plans for the day just to keep them in the know, without giving too much away.

"We're here Ms. Pope" Her driver, Hal, informed her before he got out and opened her door.

Olivia looked out at the sunrise ascending among the waves, behind the mansion they were shooting at as she hopped out of the car "Talk about a perfect view."

Her stylist, James, greeted her as she walked onto set with a plate holding numerous breakfast food choices "Good morning, Liv!"

Olivia was ecstatic to see a familiar face already and food of course "Hey boo! Did you bring some goodies?" She winked, clearly referring to the many outfits she'd be wearing during her In Style magazine photoshoot that day.

James pointed at all of the options she could choose from "You know it and you're gonna die when you see all of the shoe options Christian sent for you to use."

Olivia saw all of the shoe boxes stacked near the numerous racks of clothing options and internally thanked the shoe Gods "He gets me."

Miya walked in with a million things in her hands as she held her cell phone to her ear with her shoulder "I mean, I'll talk to her about it but I can't make any promises." she answered mattarfactly as she cupped the blueberry muffin off of Olivia's plate with a napkin.

Olivia huffed as she began to eat the egg whites instead. _I'll pretend you're that muffin._

Miya cackled lightly at her daughters facial expression as she ate her breakfast "You can eat it after the shoot. You don't want to look bloated on the cover, right? "

"Right"

"You'll thank me later."

 **xx**

One of the editors at In Style, Liz North, was at the shoot and wanted to do a mini interview with Olivia for the BTS video portion of the interview. She began by asking her about some of her favorite things.

"Favorite day of the week?" Elizabeth asked as they sat across from each other.

"Ah, I love Sundays. First thing that comes to mind is great food and sleep. What could be better?" She smiled at the thought.

Liz grinned and agreed "Favorite snack?"

"I could live off of popcorn to be quite honest. It's so yummy."

Liz nodded in agreement and continued "Favorite social media app?"

"I'm kind of obsessed with snapchat because of the filters" she laughed "I find myself face swapping with my entire team and they're quite sick of my shenanigans at this point"

Liz giggled as a few of the crew members agreed in the background which caused Olivia to roll her eyes "Okay last one… you've been in the business for a while now so I'm sure you've received a lot advice over the years; can you share a bit?"

"Oh wow" Olivia tilted her head a bit "Well my parents made sure to tell me to avoid comparing myself to others. It's so damaging and I struggled with it a bit when I was younger but I've gotten to a place where I am honestly happy with who I've become."

 **xx**

Once the photoshoot was complete, Olivia was heading to the car, when Miya called her name from behind.

"Wait up, I got a call when you were chatting with Liz and I wanted to run it by you."

Olivia took off her sunglasses, clearly wanting her to continue.

"I got a call from Apex, they wanted to know if you'd be in Fitz's new music video. What do you think?" Miya asked, hoping her daughter would agree to the deal.

"Uh, I don't know. My schedule over the next 2 weeks is jam packed. I have to be in New York to complete the last of the H&M summer Ad's with Abby and then meetings about my endorsement deal with Calvin Klien—"

Miya interrupted "I have taken care of all of that Liv; they're willing to work around your schedule. Besides, it's not until the end of the month anyway. They really want you for this. Plus, you and Fitz have been friends for years so we won't have to worry about professionalism and people not knowing their boundaries."

"Can I at least have a night to think about it?"

"Yeah, just think it over."

Itching to leave, she began slowly walking backwards "Love you, mom."

"Love you, more sweetheart."

 **xx**

Olivia was on her way back to LA when she realized she had a new text notification from Fitz. She laughed at the irony, or lack thereof.

 _"_ _You busy? I wanna facetime really quick."_

She was relieved that he didn't just randomly FaceTime her out of no where, she hated when people did that. She replied:

 _"_ _Nah, just left work. Go for it."_

Within seconds Fitz's face was plastered across her screen.

"Long time, no talk, big head." He teased.

Olivia rolled her eyes "How're you gonna just steal my nickname for you like that? You're so annoying" She laughed "And I just saw you last month!"

Fitz sucked his teeth "Man, that was for like two seconds at that one event. You don't have no time for one of your oldest buds anymore."

"Shutup. That goes both ways Mr. _"I'll call you right back"_."

Fitz placed his hand over his face "I was stuck in the studio that night trying to make a deadline, cut me some slack."

"I guess" she smirked. Ever since she could remember, she and Fitz always had an extremely laid-back friendship vibe "Well my mom already informed me about your little plan"

"Dope. Are you down to do it?"

"I don't know Fitz, I've never even done a music video before." Olivia sighed, as she placed her phone in her lap so she could put her hair in a ponytail.

"It's similar to what you do daily at photoshoots but more movement and you'd obviously play my love interest so there'd be some intimate scenes, but I was your first kiss so it shouldn't be _that_ uncomfortable for you" Fitz winked, he loved getting under her skin.

She picked up the phone again "You're never gonna let that go, huh?

"Hell no" he laughed

She shook her head "I'll let you know, okay?"

"You got it. But what're you up to?"

"Going home to get in my bed. I've been up since 5."

He sucked his teeth "Aw poor baby. Harrison and I are going to Nobu, you should come."

"If I didn't have to do the Kimmel show tomorrow I def would because then I could just sleep all day tomorrow but unfortunately I can't."

"Lame. Well I'll let you get your beauty rest then. Later!"

Olivia laughed "I'll call you tomorrow with my answer. Bye."

 **xx**

"So what've you been up to? You haven't been on the show in a while, we miss you around here! Especially Guillermo!" Jimmy smiled as he teased one of the shows crew members, the camera zoomed in on the man as he blushed. He was always mesmerized by Olivia anytime she stopped by to tape the show.

The audience cheered and whistled at the joke, this caused Olivia to chuckle at Jimmy's antics. "Poor G, you're always giving him such a hard time!" She playfully slapped his hand "But I missed you guys, too and I've just been really busy working; which I am extremely grateful for obviously.

Jimmy nodded "Being busy doing something you love is never a bad thing, right?"

"Exactly."

"Well aside from you flying around the world, you did have time to stop by the Kids Choice Awards in March and with that came a lot of interesting headlines" Jimmy pulled out a picture of Olivia and her ex boy friend and Boston Celtics NBA player, Russell James, so the camera could zoom in prior to him continuing. "Dare to clear up some rumors?"

Olivia sighed playfully "Yeah, I was excited to present at the KCA's again, it was a lot of fun. But uhm, we ran into each other on the red carpet and though we're no longer together, we didn't end on an awful note, so it wasn't hard for us to be cordial and pose for a quick picture together, you know?"

"I understand, but some of the headlines were hilarious. One already pegged you guys to be secretly engaged. Ah, gotta love this Hollywood world we're a part of, huh?"

Olivia laughed "People just make things up and I try not to get roped up in any of it, but no, we are not together."

After a quick commercial break, Jimmy moved on to his last question for Olivia.

"So the H&M spring Ad's that you were in came out amazing, and you guys are about to start the summer session, right?"

Olivia grinned at the compliment "Why thank you, Jimmy! And that is correct! We're actually starting on that next week so I'm really excited. I'm grateful that I get to basically work alongside my best friend for an entire week."

"In case you've been living under a rock, she's referring to fellow super model, Abigail Whelan" Jimmy looked into the camera "Such a hard life."

His comment made everyone, including Olivia, laugh.

Once Jimmy made his ending remarks, they cut to the final commercial break of Olivia's interview. Prior to her leaving the set Jimmy wanted to thank her for coming.

"Thanks again for stopping by and don't take another trillion years to come back on the show!" he teased

"I won't, I have a few projects up my sleeve so I'm sure I'll be back sooner than later."

"Always the outgoing one" he smiled as he began to walk away "don't lose that! Good luck with everything."

Olivia followed her publicist and security out to the studio gates to sign autographs, but as she greeted the fans her mind constantly replayed Jimmy's last remarks. _Always the outgoing one._

This made her think about being too fearful to accept Fitz's offer. But she was always one to face her fears head-on so this time couldn't be any different no matter how it might turn out.

"We're sorry everyone but we have to get going" She heard her publicist yell to the rowdy crowd and paparazzi.

Once they were seated comfortably in the car, she pulled out her phone and dialed the number quickly.

 _"Hey, I'm in."_

* * *

 **AN: Thoughts? :) x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, thanks so much for the feedback! And yes, Olitz is end game. ;)**

* * *

After Faze 3 decided to part ways, Harrison had become a judge on America's got talent and a choreographer but he and Fitz still hung out all of the time. Fitz decided to stop by his place in Brentwood to let him hear pillow talk as a finished product because he valued his opinion.

"So what do you think?" Fitz asked as the song faded out.

"Bro, that track is fire, I can't believe you wrote that."

"DJ helped me a bit but yeah man, it feels good to be in control of what I'm putting out there, you know?"

"I feel you… I'm happy for you. Based off the lyrics I'm assuming you and Liv are gonna be rolling around in bed the entire video." Harrison laughed.

Fitz shoved his shoulder "Nah, we're actually focusing more on facial visuals. I mean at the most we'll probably have a few intimate scenes but we'll be clothed and standing. We're keeping it pretty simple for the first one."

"Alright Mr. Artsy" He teased "So is Adnan pissed you didn't ask her to be in the video?"

Fitz rubbed his forehead "She hasn't mentioned it to me so I assume she's fine with it and we only hooked up twice and agreed that we don't owe each other anything. I mean come on, she's a reality star and Liv's a model and knows how to be in front of a camera so logically it just made more sense to ask her."

Harrison smirked as he made himself a protein smoothie "You sure that's the only reason? Liv's blossomed into a beautiful woman, I wouldn't blame you for trying to get at her"

"It's just business" Fitz lied. Truthfully, he'd had a crush on Liv ever since they had kissed at a young Hollywood after-party when they were both teenagers; but it never went anywhere, the timing just wasn't good.

Harrison held up his hands in surrender "Alright, alright, whatever you say."

* * *

Olivia and Abby had already been in the Hamptons, New York for a day shooting with H&M and now they were on day two.

James rolled out a rack of swimming suit options for Olivia "You're doing the beach scene next so do you wanna go with this sky blue bikini or the black cut-out one piece?"

Olivia eye'd the rack, contemplating which one to go with "Abby" She called out for her best friend whom she knew she could count on for a blunt opinion.

Abby walked over to her and looked back and forth "I'd go with the bikini, show that hot body off, girl!"

Olivia shrugged "Bikini it is"

Once they were both changed, they placed their robes on and made their way to hair and make-up.

"Are we still going to Harrisons birthday party this weekend?" Abby asked as she got a manicure

"Yeah I figure once we get back to LA on Friday night we can just change at my place since it's closer to his and then we'll just have Hal drive us over since we both wanna drink."

"And we can pre game on the jet"

Olivia mischievously smirked as she looked at Abby in the mirror "Hell yeah"

Trisha, the girls hairstylist for the day happily sighed as she fixed Olivia's curls "Oh to be young, wild, and free."

Abby chuckled "We don't get many nights to do so, so when we do that's exactly how we feel"

"Are you guys gonna go to the city tonight?" Trisha asked the girls

"Yeah and my dad's there for work, and since I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks I wanna spend some time with him this evening and then we're-" she pointed between herself and Abby "… gonna do a little retail therapy tomorrow."

"It's been a while since we've done some proper damage"

 **xx**

Olivia came from a two parent home but over the years her fathers I.T. company, Pope & Company expanded to New York so he was bi-coastal between there and Los Angeles. Seeing her dad two weeks out of the month was just something that she and her mom had become accustomed to. But she always admired how her parents managed to make their relationship last despite their unusual circumstance.

Hal, Olivia and Abby were all sitting in 5pm traffic near central park "Are we dropping you by your dad's office or the apartment?"

Olivia made eye contact with Hal through the rear view mirror "My mom didn't mention him working late on the phone so you can just drop me off at the apartment, I have my key just in case. But you guys wait until I text you letting you know I'm inside before you leave."

Abby looked up from her phone "Ok but are you gonna come back to the hotel later?"

"I don't know, I might spend the night and then I'll come in the morning"

Once they reached their destination, Olivia hopped out and made her way inside of the building. She knocked on the door and then she heard a woman's voice yell "Hold on". This made her worry so she opened the door with her key and she came in contact with a tall black woman that looked no older than 30 in a bathrobe "Who the hell are you?!" Olivia angrily asked.

The lady began to back track, weary of making eye contact "Uh, uh… Eli!" she yelled.

Eli came walking out of the room with a towel wrapped around his waist "Is that the food?" He asked before stopping dead in his tracks when he noticed the scene before him. _Shit._ "Liv, sweetie… I can explain."

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!" She spat.

Eli furrowed his eyebrows "Wait a minute now, you watch that tone!"

The random woman looked between the two of them "Eli I thought you said you told them?"

"I didn't get the chance to—"

"Mom was so loyal to you and this is how you repay her? You disgust me!" Olivia spat as she turned on her heels, heading for the door.

He rushed after her, rushing towards the elevator "Olivia! Olivia wait!"

Olivia pressed the ground level button and the door closed on her father.

 **xx**

Olivia spotted the black Escalade SUV waiting and jumped right in.

Abby was startled and began to ask a dozen questions "I thought you were going to call us? What's wrong? Why're you crying?"

Olivia wiped her tears "Can we please get out of here?!"

Hal drove off as quickly as possible.

Olivia ignored all of Abby's questions and frantically dialed her mom's number. Once she answered Olivia's mouth started running a mile a minute "Dad's a fucking liar!"

"Olivia! Watch your mouth!" Her mom said worriedly and quite angrily because of her choice of words.

"I'm sorry but I just left dad's and he has some half naked woman up there!"

Abby's eyes widened at the confession, she'd come from a divorced home so she felt for Olivia.

Miya sighed on the other end "I should've trusted my gut."

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed "What? You knew?"

"No! I mean, not for sure but I had a feeling he was. I'm so sorry you had to be caught in that situation!"

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Olivia, I didn't want to worry you and have you resent your father if it turned out that I was just overreacting"

"Yeah mom because the situation I was just caught in was MUCH better. I have to go." She hung up the phone and began to ball her eyes out while Abby did her best to comfort her until they reached the Gansevoort Hotel.

 **xx**

Olivia and Abby were 30,000 feet in the air on their way back to LA.

"How are you feeling?" Abby asked as they watched a movie on the couch.

She held up her wine glass "This drink is helping"

Abby gave a small smile and rubbed her forehead "Are you sure you don't wanna just skip the party? You know Harrison will understand."

Olivia rolled her eyes "No, I deserve to go out and have a good time, I'm not letting my stupid parents' drama ruin my weekend."

Abby sighed "Alright"

Hours later they were making there way through security at Harrisons house.

"Quinn must've hired them" Olivia yelled into Abby ears over the music, referring to the famous actress and Harrisons girl friend.

Abby rubbed her ear "Damn, and yeah she probably didn't want any crazies to get in like at his last party"

Olivia shook her head as they made their way inside so she could locate the birthday boy. She ended up spotting him by the dj booth "Happy birthday, Harry!" She smiled and hugged him.

"Thanks Liv." He smiled and grabbed the present she was holding up for him "I wonder what it is?!"

She winked at Abby as they both watched him pull out two golfing passes to an exclusive country club in the hills with the biggest smile on his face.

"You're always talking about taking up golfing so I got in touch with my dads friend John who's a golf instructor and he's hooking you and a friend up with a few lessons whenever you have time"

"Liv, you're the best. Thank you!"

"No problem. Where's Quinn?"

Quinn made her way through the crowd "Here I am!"

They all laughed at her quirkiness "How was New York?"

Abby eyed Olivia, worried that subject would put her back in a funk, so she took over. "The shoot went really well, we always have a blast working together."

"That's so awesome, I'm glad everything went well. Do you guys want something to drink?"

"She'll take a glass of red" A familiar voice answered, walking up behind Harrison. It was Russell.

"Thanks for the heads up, Harry" Olivia said in a hushed tone to Harrison.

He mouthed an apology but Olivia wasn't _that_ surprised that he was there, he was one of Harrison's friends.

"Nice to see you, again Liv." He smiled.

"Hey" She said politely.

"I'll be back with that drink" Quinn said excusing herself and Harrison followed, including Abby whom felt kind of awkward standing there with them.

"Damn do I smell or something?" Russell joked

Olivia chuckled "Just a tad"

"So I saw a little bit of your interview last week"

She began to play with her ear, a habit she'd formed overtime "Yeah, it was kind of awkward but I handled it"

"I guess the people just wanna see us back together" He charmed, that's exactly how he'd gotten her the first time, aside from his good looks.

She rolled her eyes "Please."

He laughed "I missed your bluntness."

Quinn brought over a glass of wine for Olivia and then left the two alone again.

"Are you gonna play flip cup?" he asked, pointing to the backyard where a bunch of people were playing.

She shrugged care-freely "Sure, why not"

* * *

Fitz and Huck made their way inside of the house a few minutes later, clearly ready to turn up with their bro. Fitz spotted Abby talking to one of his friends Leo Bergen in the kitchen. "What's up" He said as he gave Abby a hug and shook Leo's hand.

"Everyone's outside playing flip cup but we both suck at that game so we're just chilling" Leo said

Fitz looked around the house "Where's your partner in crime?"

Abby knew he was referring to Olivia "She's out back with Harrison, Quinn, and Russell"

He looked outside and spotted Olivia sipping on what looked like, judging by the two empty glasses on the table in front of her, her third glass of wine, while Russell's hand was resting on her waste.

"Fitz!" Adnan yelled, rushing up beside him giving him a big hug. "Did you just get here?"

"Yeah" he answered dryly before turning to Huck and pointing towards the backyard "Lets go out back"

As they made their way outside, Adnan made sure to keep a short distance between herself and Fitz. This didn't stop Fitz from sneaking up behind Olivia and tickling her sides.

This made Olivia squeal and she turned around with much excitement when she realized who it was. "Hey big head!"

This caused Fitz to pick her up and swing her around. "What's up?" he asked as he placed her back on the ground.

Russell was clearly annoyed but he played along "Sup Fitz?"

Fitz didn't really care for Russell even when Olivia was dating him but nonetheless he was polite. "Chillin. Are you guys winning?"

"Our side won 5 times already but I think I'm done, I've had way too much to drink" Olivia said placing her drink on the table.

Not wanting to feel left out, Adnan decided to say something "Hi, Olivia" she never really liked her, she always felt like she was overrated.

Unbeknownst to Adnan, Olivia already sensed her jealousy so she made sure to keep a slight distance whenever they happened to see each other. "Hi"

The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Being the straight up person that he was, Fitz grabbed Olivia's hand and took her near the pool; leaving Adnan and Russell standing there dumbfounded.

Once they were alone, he asked "You're back with that bone head?"

Olivia looked at him as if he had two heads "No!"

Fitz sipped his beer "Oh, he was all over you so I thought you guys were."

"Why don't you worry about your girl Adnan? I can take care of myself."

"You know I'm not with her. Besides, I'm just looking out for you, that guy showed his true colors when you decided not to go with him when he got traded. He doesn't value your career Liv, he wanted you to throw it all away and follow him."

"Are you done?" Olivia rolled her eyes and began to walk away when Fitz stopped her.

"Wait. Look, I only said all of that because I care."

"Bullshit. Human beings aren't capable of caring about anyone but themselves. Someone always ends up getting screwed over."

Before he could ask where that crushing statement came from, Russell was interrupting them "Liv, lets dance"

Olivia made eye contact with Fitz and then looked up at Russell "Lets go"

Fitz was so confused, he knew she had to be tipsy but damn, something had to be bothering her internally.

* * *

 **AN: Felt it was right to end it there. Lemme know your thoughts x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Got an interesting review so I just wanna clear something up, although I am using Zayn's music for this story, Fitz is** ** _NOT_** **a character based off of Zayn. I just like his music and wanted to use it for this part of the story. Okay? Ok. Lol. And as always, thanks for the feedback, enjoy. x**

* * *

After Olivia had walked off with Russell, Fitz didn't want to look stupid nor entertain Adnan's advances, so he joined the rest of the guys in Harrisons indoor basketball gym while everyone else continued to party in different parts of the house and pool area. While playing, Fitz couldn't help the fact that he was irritated at the fact that Olivia was being so cold towards him. All he could do was pretend to have a good time playing with his buddies while he had internal conversations with himself. _Maybe I shouldn't have asked her if she was back with Russell? Damn it, no, Fitz, you were in the right, that guy's a douche. But wait, that is her business, I had no right. Ugh, fuck, I don't even know._

"PASS THE BALL, BRO!"

"EARTH TO FITZ"

All of the demands quickly snapped him out of his trance. "My bad, here" He said throwing the ball to Huck so he could shoot it.

Abby came scurrying into the gym wasting no time pushing the sweaty, shirtless guys out of the way in the process. "Fitz!" She yelled over the loud noise as she approached him. "Have you seen Liv?"

Fitz couldn't really hear her over all of the guys rambling and fussing over the game, so he grabbed his shirt and gestured for her to follow him.

Once they were upstairs in the Kitchen, she continued. "Have you seen Liv?"

"Last time I saw her she was with Russell in the back dancing."

"Damn" She pouted as she pulled her phone out to call Olivia. "No answer."

Fitz began to worry, he knew that Olivia was acting odd but didn't know she had been drinking that much since he'd arrived to the party later; but he couldn't show it because then Abby would get even more worked up "Chill, they can't be that far. Is he staying at a hotel or something while he's in town?"

"I don't think he sold his place in the hills when he got traded so maybe they're there, I'm not quite sure though."

Fitz immediately came up with an idea "Harrison should have all of his information. Keep calling her and find us a ride since we've both been drinking and I'll meet you out front in 5. "

Abby nodded and they each ran off in different directions.

* * *

"I can't believe you took that entire bottle" Russell laughed as he and Olivia rode down the LA streets in his car.

She continued drinking the red liquid with a straw stuck in the bottle, and suddenly felt a vibration between her legs. She didn't even bother looking at the caller ID and just shut the phone off all together "Shutup and drive"

Russell smirked and rubbed her thigh "Just a few more miles"

 **xx**

After arriving at Russell's house, Olivia stumbled onto the couch and made herself at home "You wanna listen to some music?" He asked as he took off his shoes near the front door.

"Uh, yeah, s-sure" Olivia slurred, she didn't think she was completely drunk but she sure as hell wasn't sober.

He pulled Olivia closer to his body as he scanned the music library on his phone before settling on a R&B station. "Come here" He said, as he grabbed Olivia's chin and pulled her in for a kiss and she obliged climbing onto his lap, deepening the kiss in the process.

* * *

Thankfully Hal was already expecting to pick up the girls so Abby took advantage of that for her and Fitz's benefit and also since Hal could get them through Olivia's gated Condo area so they could check there in case they weren't at Russell's place.

"Thank god Harrison knew the code to Russell's place"

"Yeah, did she answer you?"

Abby sighed "No, I keep trying though."

Fitz rubbed his forehead, how could Liv just leave with him? It was so unlike her. "I'm gonna call him"

After a few rings, the line picked up but all that came from the other side of the phone was the sound of giggling and soft tones followed by the dial tone. This angered Fitz, all he could think about was crushing Russell's face in for taking her back to his place when she clearly wasn't all there.

Olivia watched as Russell began to unbutton his shirt and tried reaching for the zipper on her dress but then loud thumps at the door interrupted his movements.

"What the hell? Hold on" He said pulling her off of his lap so he could open the door.

The door wasn't even fully open before Fitz was barging inside with Abby not far behind.

"The fuck do you think you're doing, huh?" Fitz yelled, shoving Russell against the wall, leaving Abby to run towards Olivia.

"Liv are you okay?!" She asked hugging her friend but Olivia shoved her off.

"Fitz, stop!" She screamed

Russell tried maneuvering his way out of Fitz's grasp "I didn't do shit, Liv wanted to come here with me!"

Fitz continued to pin him to the wall "She's been drinking, you fucking MORON!" he spat before releasing the tight grip he had around his disheveled shirt collar.

Abby grabbed Liv's phone and purse off of the counter and said "Lets just get out of here"

Olivia huffed as she followed Abby out of the door and Fitz just pointed at Russell as he followed the girls out of the house; his actions spoke louder than words ever could.

"Where are we going?" Liv whined as she leaned on Abby's shoulder as they drove off.

Fitz looked at her briefly "Taking you home"

"Thanks for being a cock block"

Noticing Fitz's angry facial expressions Abby interjected and said "Shutup, Liv."

Olivia huffed and attempted to climb over the seat.

"What are you doing?" Abby asked as she watched her struggle.

"Getting away from your cranky asses" she said as she laid across the back row.

Abby sighed and said in a hushed tone "I shouldn't have left her with him"

Fitz looked behind them to make sure Olivia couldn't hear them "You didn't know that she was gonna leave with him, this isn't your fault"

"I guess" Abby said "But wait, what about your car?"

Fitz nonchalantly said "I was gonna stay at Harrisons anyway so I'll just call an uber when we get to her place."

 **xx**

"Change into these" Abby said throwing a tank top and a pair of shorts at Olivia. "Fitz is getting you some water; I'll be back I'm gonna take a shower"

Fitz came walking into the room as Abby was making her way out "Here, drink this."

Olivia thanked him and asked "Are you staying?"

"Nah, I'm gonna call an uber"

"You can just sleep on the couch"

He was still pissed about the entire situation but he didn't wanna argue with her "Fine but you should go to sleep"

"But I'm not even ti-'' Olivia began, before rushing towards the bathroom.

Fitz overheard her throwing up so he made his way inside to help her.

"Well at least you're barfing it out now" he said as he held her hair out of the way.

Olivia briefly looked up at him and rolled her eyes before continuing to empty the contents of her stomach.

Once she was done brushing her teeth, feeling bad for her, Fitz carried her to bed.

"I'll be out here if you need me" He said before turning out her light.

"Can you stay in here for a little?" Olivia begged

Feeling a little bad for her, he said "Sure" before joining her.

When Abby came back to Olivia's room, she found the two of them fast asleep on the bed with Olivia's head resting on Fitz's shoulder with the tv on in the background, if it was anyone else, this would've been a suspicious setup but to Abby, it wasn't a big deal and she just turned the tv and light off and made her way back to the guest room.

 **xx**

The next morning Olivia eyes opened to the sun blaring through the blinds. She brushed her teeth and made her way towards the kitchen to Find Abby cleaning dishes.

"Finally" Abby teased

Olivia rubbed her forehead as she sat at the counter "My head is killing me"

"I made you some food" Abby said pointing towards the plate of bacon, eggs, and fruit.

Olivia barely had an appetite but was grateful Abby went out of her way to make her food "Thanks"

"Were you on the phone?" Abby asked

"Yeah, Russell called me"

Abby looked up at her "What the hell did he want?"

"He basically complained about how Fitz is crazy and blah blah. I told him that we didn't have a reason to contact each other anymore so that's that."

"Well that's good, the last thing you need is more drama on your plate" Abby said "Fitz left an hour ago, I feel bad, you were kind of rude to him last night"

Olivia sipped on some water "I didn't mean to get that out of control."

"You should definitely apologize to him, too."

Olivia agreed and picked up her phone to text Fitz.

 _"_ _I'm sorry for last night."_

She got a notification a few minutes later _"It's ok. See you at the shoot at the end of the month."_

Once she read his response, she didn't bother to push the conversation any further so she just said _"Okay"_.

* * *

"Liv, are you here?" Miya yelled out as she walked through the front door.

Olivia groaned, after Abby left, she went back to bed hoping that would ease her head ache but it didn't. "I'm in my room"

Miya turned on the light in her room "What are you still doing in bed? It's after 4 o'clock!"

Olivia threw the covers over face "It's called a spare key, mom. Not a walk-in-whenever you want key."

Miya pulled the covers back and sat beside her on the edge. "Are you feeling sick?"

"I'm fine. I'm just tired."

Miya wasn't dumb but she wasn't going to push. "I spoke with your father. We're gonna separate for a while."

"I'm surprised you're not divorcing him. He's disgusting."

She sighed and rubbed Olivia's hair "Your father and I have been married for almost 27 years, Liv. Marriage isn't easy."

She sat up and looked at her mom as if she were crazy "How can you be so calm about all of this? He doesn't deserve you."

"Trust me, I had my moment and now I'm ready to move forward, we're gonna be a part for a little and then if we decide to stay together we're gonna do a bit of counseling."

"I guess but he keeps blowing up my phone."

"You're gonna have to talk to him eventually, honey."

"I know…"

 **Two weeks later.**

The first day of shooting the music video had been successful, they had completed most of Fitz's solo parts of the video but today would be day two and it would be longer than the first since they'd be shooting Olivia's solo facial visuals as well as the parts Olivia and Fitz had to film together. Fitz was still a little annoyed with Olivia but he knew that while they were on set he had to hide all of those emotions and get down to business.

"Mrs. Pope, aren't you looking great. Are you aging backwards?" Fitz charmed as he greeted Olivia's mom while they waited on set.

Miya chuckled "Fitz, so good to see you again. How's the family? Haven't seen them in a while."

"They're great, my brothers going to Stanford in the fall."

"John doesn't want to follow in his brothers footsteps?"

Fitz shook his head "No, no, he's too shy for this business. He already hates the attention he gets on social media because of me."

"Miya, Miya, Miya" Cyrus interjected as he approached them from behind.

"Cyrus. Still letting Nichols boss you around, ay?" Miya smirked

"Not even two seconds and you're already cracking jokes." Cyrus laughed, he and Miya had gotten to know each other because of mutual friends "Where's that beautiful daughter of yours?"

"She's right here" Olivia answered as she strolled through in a black gown accompanied by a long slit along the side, with a high neckline, completely showing off her braless cleavage and tone stomach.

"There she is!" Cyrus said for emphasis.

Olivia smiled "Hi, guys"

They weren't on the best of terms but Fitz knew that this was his job so he would play along. "Hey"

Olivia knew Fitz had to still be pissed at her because he wasn't his usual playful self. _This is gonna be a long day._

 **xx**

"Alright Olivia, I need you to grip the side of your dress and stare into the camera" the director, Lucas, instructed. They'd successfully gotten most of the solo footage they needed of her but they still had a last frame to capture before they could move on.

Olivia took direction very well "Yes! Just like that but lower your head just a tad." He said pointing towards the camera that was near the ground.

"She's a natural" Cyrus commented as he and Fitz watched from the side.

As irritated as he was with her, Fitz couldn't help but be mesmerized at how great she looked in front of the camera. She looked absolutely breathtaking. "She is"

"Hopefully she doesn't outshine you in your own video" Cyrus teased

Fitz pushed him a bit "shutup"

Lucas held his hand up "That's it, Liv, we got the shot... you can go change into your second outfit and then we'll bring Fitz in"

* * *

Fitz had changed into a black v-neck, black skinny jeans, paired with black Saint Laurent boots and a grey bomber jacket. He had yet to cut his hair so they just went with sleeked back curls with a side part. Both of their stylist's suggested that Olivia wear black, too but instead of another dress, James dressed her in a black satin (non see-through) corset bralette paired with black flare-like dress pants with wavy hair.

They hadn't talked much between takes and this time was no different, they both just waited for instructions.

Lucas made his way onto the set with the two of them "For the first part we're gonna have you guys hold each other and we need the eye contact to be intense. Don't even worry about the camera, eyes on each other the entire time."

Fitz's thumbs up and Olivia's nodding gave Lucas all of the confirmation he needed. "Cue the music… and action!"

Olivia was looking at Fitz and she realized she'd never really noticed how cute his eyes were. They were so captivating in that moment it almost scared her. Fitz on the other hand had always noticed how big and brown her eyes so he was trying to refrain from being consumed by them.

"Fitz!" Lucas yelled out, causing them both to snap out of it "Damn, y'all really zoned out on that one. But man we need you to kind of caress her chin and then kiss her"

Fitz looked at Olivia as if he were asking her if she was okay just with his eyes, once she said yes, they waited for the music and then eased their way into the kiss. It was a bit awkward at first because of the crew staring at them but after a while, it seemed as if they were the only two in the room.

* * *

A few hours later, the entire video was wrapped and Lucas notified Fitz that they'd have it edited within two weeks to give to the label. Olivia was cleared to leave so she was in the trailer gathering the last of her things when Fitz walked in.

"I just wanted to thank you for doing this. You did great. I'll send you a copy of the video once Apex gets it" He said as he opened the door to walk back out.

"Fitz wait" She called out, making him stop in tracks.

"Look, I'm sorry for that night. I was a jerk."

"It's fine Liv"

Olivia tilted her head "Obviously it's not, you won't even look at me"

"Because I know something had to have been bothering you that night and we've always been able to talk to each other about anything. And honestly, you leaving with Russell really pissed me off because you can do so much better than that guy. He's selfish and doesn't deserve you. "

Olivia pushed her hair behind her ear and sighed "I don't know why I left with him, I was in such a weird mood."

Fitz looked at her clearly wanting her to continue so she did "The day before the party when I was in New York I had found my dad with another woman. We're still not on good terms but instead of dwelling on it I've decided to just move on. I'll talk to my dad when I'm ready.""

Fitz frowned "Damn, I'm so sorry, that's gotta be tough."

Olivia blinked her eyes, clearly trying to stop her tears from falling. "It's okay and thank you for taking care of me that night even though I didn't deserve it."

Seeing her cry was the straw that broke the camels back, without even thinking Fitz was rushing towards liv, holding the sides of her face "I'm always gonna be here for you, always."

She didn't know how they'd gotten to this place, it was unexpected but she felt comfort in his arms. "Thank you"

Fitz didn't utter a word, he just leaned down and kissed her lips delicately.

* * *

 **AN: Whew, a lot happened in this chapter lol. Leave reviews. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I probably should've said this in the last chapter, but if you haven't already, I suggest you guys check out the pillow talk music video so then you get an idea of how it turned out for Olivia and Fitz. Also, shoutout to y'all for the reviews, make's me wanna keep writing. ALL THE LOVE XX**

* * *

 **A few weeks later.**

Ever since Fitz had kissed Olivia, the two of them had become practically inseparable. If they weren't working, they were hanging out together and if they weren't together, they were talking on the phone or texting. Taking that step to being more than friends had been extremely easy for them and they could credit their 8 year friendship for that. Over the years, whenever they were photographed it was never big news because they were usually with a group of people and it was known that they were just friends but lately they'd been seen out and about more than usual and the photo that had everyone speculating was when they were leaving a nightclub in downtown Los Angeles and Fitz was holding Olivia's waist as they were getting inside of a black SUV. With Fitz having multiple appearances coming up to promote his new album, "Mind of Mine" coming out at the end of July, they knew he would get asked a lot of questions pertaining to them and would have to confirm their status sooner than later.

Olivia was at her trainer, Jen Abernathy's private gym in downtown LA working out. She made sure to workout 5 days out of the week, even if she was traveling she would find a way to get it done. Since her body was her money maker, she had to keep everything looking right.

"Give me 50 more" Jen instructed as she held Olivia's feet as she did sit-ups.

Olivia heaved a euphoric sigh of relief that she was almost done "I hate these things"

Jen giggled "You remind me every time"

Once she was done, Jen offered her a cold bottle of water to clench her thirst.

"Thanks, Jen"

"They're still camped outside" Jen said as she looked out of her studio window at the paparazzi's waiting outside "There's usually 1 or 2 whenever you come but there's like seven of them out there. This is ridiculous."

Olivia laughed as she saw them all just waiting "It's so funny that they actually think I'm gonna give them the time of day."

Jen gave a small smile "I don't see how you do it"

Olivia crossed her legs and shrugged "Comes with the territory"

 **xx**

Olivia braced herself to rush through all of the paparazzi's towards her Porsche Panamera 4. Thankfully her sunglasses blocked the bright lenses but the constant yelling was something she'd never get used to.

 _"_ _Olivia! Olivia! Are you and Fitz really a thing?!"_

 _"_ _How was your workout?!"_

 _"_ _How's Russell feel about your new boy toy?!"_

Once she made it inside of her car she locked the doors and sped off. She checked her rear view mirror to make sure none of them followed her, once she was in the clear, she connected her phone to the car bluetooth so that she could return Fitz's missed call.

"Hey you" He answered cheerfully

She grinned whilst focusing on the road "Hey, sorry I missed your call, I was working out"

"Damn you make me feel like a bum, I haven't worked out in a few days"

"I should've dragged you with me" She laughed

Fitz chucked on the other end "Come over"

"After I shower, I feel gross."

"You act like I don't have multiple showers here"

Olivia shook her head as she approached a red light "But I don't have clothes over there, smart ass"

He groaned "Just come, I have something I want to give you"

Olivia perked up "Oh?"

"Yeah, buzz me when you're at the gate, I'll unlock the door. Drive safely."

"See you soon!"

When she pulled up to his house, she parked her car next to Fitz's multiple vehicles—he owned a Mercedes G Wagon, and an Aston Martin DB11.

She walked inside of the house but Fitz was no where to be found. She began to yell his name "FITZ!"

"I'm out here" She heard him yell from the backyard.

She found him floating in the pool, smiling at her as she approached the edge. "Hey big head, where's this thing you had to give me?" She dipped her foot in and lightly splashed him.

Fitz wiped the water off of his face and swam towards the stairs so he could get out "It's right here" He pointed towards himself as he drew nearer to her.

Olivia through her head back in laughter, sometimes he could be so cheesy "You're ridiculous, I can't believe I fell for that."

"Come in" He begged as he tried to wrap his arms around her but she put her hands up against his chest to stop him.

"Uh no, do you not see how I'm dressed?" She pointed towards her gym attire which consisted of a black sports bra and grey nike pro compression shorts.

Fitz shrugged "That's close enough to a bathing suit"

Before she could even hesitate again, he was picking her up and jumping inside of the pool.

Olivia came up for air "I'm gonna kick your ass, Fitzgerald!"

"Only if you can catch me" Fitz teased, as he took off to the other side of the pool with Olivia tailing him in the process.

 **xx**

After the two wrestled around in the pool for a while, Fitz had worked up an appetite and he was sure Olivia was hungry post-workout so he suggested they make dinner together. Olivia made her way into the kitchen in one of his t-shirts and shorts and he couldn't get over how cute she looked in his oversized clothing with wet curly hair.

"Don't forget to add pepper" Olivia suggested as she watched Fitz season the chicken breasts with salt.

Fitz sucked his teeth as her "You act like I don't know how to cook"

She held her hands up "Fine. But what can I do?"

He pointed towards the fridge "Start cutting up some veggies, I should have some mushrooms and a head of broccoli in there"

She began to rinse and slice to the veggies on the cutting board "So I forgot to tell you about the band of monkeys chasing me to my car earlier"

Fitz continued to season the meat "What happened?"

"Just asking about us… you know we're gonna have to say something eventually"

"I know it's gonna come up during my radio interview tomorrow."

"Oh right, I forgot about that"

"I mean it's better that I say it on there rather than on social media or something."

She looked over her shoulder to glance at him "Yeah, you're right."

After dinner, they decided to lounge on the couch and wait for the response to the pillow talk video that had just been released online.

Olivia looked over at Fitz and rubbed his arm "I can't believe it's out… I'm so proud of you"

"Thanks, I'm so grateful you're a part of it" Fitz smiled as he wrapped his arm around her.

His phone was buzzing non stop because of social media notifications, Fitz had gotten his fans hyped up for the video all week long and now the wait was over.

"Damn, your fans are intense" Olivia laughed as she read some of the tweets that she was getting. One of them read: " _I'm so fucking jealous of Olivia Pope right now, she gets to be all over Fitz! WTH:(" While another said "THIS VIDEO'S SO DAMN HOT!_ I SHIP IT! #pillowtalk"

Fitz laughed at her facial expression as she read them aloud to him but was hesitant to even look through his phone. Picking up on this, Olivia asked "What's wrong?"

"I'm just nervous to read the other feedback, what if they don't like it?"

She pushed her phone in his face "Are you kidding me?! It's one of the top trends on her!"

He took Olivia's word for it was pleasantly surprised when he began to read his mentions and the video's comments. Aside from a few trolls here and there, the general fan response was positive. He even had tweets and texts pouring in from his friends and family members congratulating him.

He and Olivia thought it was so funny how people were already coming up with ship names for them and websites were thinking that this video was a confirmation to the heavy dating speculation; though that obviously wasn't the case, it made for a good laugh.

Fitz decided to send out a tweet to everyone: _"Wow. so happy u guys are lovin the #pillowtalk vid. You truly r the best fans. Also tune into Power 106 in the AM- 2 HUGE surprises coming for ya. #MINDOFMINE out 7/22"_

Olivia had yet to tweet anything so she sent: _"Surprise! Lol. I'm happy you guys are enjoying the #pillowtalk vid. Make sure u purchase #MINDOFMINE out July 22nd! xo"_

Fitz read her tweet and then placed his phone on the end table so he could be in the moment with her. "I'm so happy I got to share tonight with you, this is amazing."

Olivia cuffed his face in her hands and kissed his lips "I honestly would rather be right here with you than anywhere else right now"

* * *

Fitz was scheduled to do a radio interview at one of LA's top stations, Power 106 with J Cruz. He was a little nervous because it'd been a while since he had done interviews like this and he knew J Cruz was the type to throw all types of different questions at you, but overall he was excited.

J Cruz had just finished playing Pillow Talk on rotation after fan's called in with questions for Fitz and requests for the song and now he was fading the track so he could begin his personal interview with him. He didn't waste any time jumping right in. "FITZ GRANT! Man, it's been a while! So glad to have you back here in the studio!"

Fitz held the headphones closely to his ears "I'm glad to be here, thanks for having me!"

"You know it. So bro, your new single Pillow Talk has been blowing up ever since it came out last night. It's a dope track but I wanna know how's it feel to be a solo artist compared to your boyband days."

Fitz pulled the mic closer to his mouth "I appreciate that. Being out on my own has been rewarding yet scary all at the same time; my writing's progressing and I'm just discovering different parts of myself with every song. But I'll always be grateful for my Faze 3 days, it made me into the man I am today and I'm glad that all three of us are still close and out here grindin' individually.

J Cruz nodded "I feel you on that one. You know I peeped the video late last night and I gotta say…" he pretended to wipe sweat off of his forehead "THE CHEMISTRY MAN, THE CHEMISTRY"

Fitz laughed at how enthusiastic J Cruz was "Yeah well Liv and I go way back. I'm glad she agreed to be in it."

J Cruz smirked "The speculation around you two has been crazy lately so you know I gotta ask... are y'all a thing?"

Fitz rubbed his hands together "You know, we're exploring it. Like I said, we've known each other for a while and she's a great woman so we're seeing where it goes."

J Cruz placed his hands on the sides of his hat "Oh shit! We got that exclusive y'all! Our boy got himself one of the top models in the game." He teased, hyping everyone up in the room.

"You're a mess bro" Fitz cracked up as J leaned across the table to dap his hand.

"So Fitz, we have the mystery jar game that we play whenever people stop by the show. Now, some people refuse to play because once you pick a question out, you gotta answer it. So, you down?"

Being the dare devil that he was, Fitz proceeded to say "Well now that you made it all suspenseful I feel like I've gotta do this shit" He covered his mouth "Oops, we can't curse on the air, right?"

"Nah you're good homie, but look" J passed Fitz the jar "You get three questions and you gotta be honest"

He shook his head as pulled a question out of the jar and read it out loud: **_What's been one of your biggest splurges?_**

 _"_ Oh definitely my Aston Martin; it was my birthday gift to myself for my big 25th last year." Fitz said as he reached for another question.

"That's lit, I'm a car person too… pick your last two questions"

Fitz read one of them to himself and covered his mouth "Damn, who came up with these questions?"

J Cruz pointed towards one of the staffers in the room and everyone started laughing

"Yeah I bet" Fitz gave him a look before he read the next one: **_Have you ever paid for sex?_**

"Hell nah"

J Cruz couldn't help but laugh at Fitz's facial expressions "Hey man, I told you I don't make the questions but go ahead and read the last one"

Fitz pushed his curls back, he didn't know what to expect: **_Have you ever had a threesome?_**

The questions were so straight to the point, Fitz couldn't help but chuckle. "I have not"

"You handled that like a champ!" J Cruz teased. "Well before we let you go, you said you had a surprise for your fans?"

Fitz pulled out his phone so he wouldn't forget anything he wanted to say "Last night I tweeted out that I had a couple of surprises for my fans. Well, the first one is that I'm having an album release party here in LA the day the album drops from 7pm-9pm and I'm making it where 100 of my fans can come. There's no contest or anything BUT the tickets are first come, first serve and you they go on sale next Wednesday at 9am. Lastly, I am doing a mini tour for the album, we're going to 5 states in the U.S. and I'm doing 3 international performances. Check out my website for specific date ticket sales."

"Well y'all heard the man and I'm happy you could stop by. Make sure y'all cop Fitz's new album, Mind of Mine coming out at the end of next month, on July 22nd and be sure to check his website and ticketmaster for dates that you can see him perform in person." J Cruz looked at Fitz and said "It's always a pleasure having you, man"

Fitz grinned "Likewise, thanks for letting me come through."

* * *

 **AN: Do y'all think they should've kept their relationship to themselves for a bit longer or do you guys think they made the right decision to put it all out there?**


	5. Chapter 5

"And there you have it, folks. Fitz Grant finally opened up during his radio interview at Power 106 about Olivia Pope following major speculation that the two are dating." Hollywood Now anchor, Nicole Harris said as she looked at her co-anchor, Jackson Phillips and back at the camera.

"That's right, Nicole! Fitz said that the two are exploring a relationship. From his choice of words, we can only assume this relationship is still in the early stages."

Nicole nodded "And to think everyone thought that she and Russell James were getting back together after the two split in early 2015 after a 2 and a half year relationship."

Jackson looked into the camera "Yes but even before this recent news, those rumors got pushed to the side when the Pillow Talk video was released last week; it already has 100 million views on Youtube."

"I also think it's safe to say the video came as a surprise to everyone when we saw Olivia in it, so they definitely succeeded with the shock factor, if that's what they were aiming for" Nicole smirked at Jackson and continued "The two have been friends for several years so we hope that this new relationship works out. They definitely compliment each other."

"They do and we wish them the best" Jackson concluded as they went to commercial.

The commercials were a welcomed distraction to the constant news about her and Fitz. It had been a couple of days since Fitz's radio interview and the media was still in a tizzy over the two of them. Olivia didn't know how to feel about it, it was sort of new territory in a way because although her previous relationship was talked about a lot, it felt like this was on an entirely different level. She honestly did not understand the big fascination behind her and Fitz being together but she knew that wouldn't stop the world from talking about it.

Olivia was in her walk-in closet mentally muting out the tv in the background as she tried to find something to wear for the day as she spoke to Abby on the phone, pacing back and forth in the process "It's really sad that I'm struggling to find something to wear"

Abby laughed on the other end "Just put on a tank top and shorts and come to brunch with Ashley and I. I think we're gonna go to Urth, I'm craving a fruit bowl"

She got up on her tippy toes as she pulled down a dressy shirt from one of the racks "I can't. I'm going with Fitz to his brothers graduation party."

"Oh, that should be fun! Is it a big dress up-type event?"

"No, just a barbecue"

"Well, then just wear a sundress. You won't be too dressed up and not too under dressed either!"

Olivia held her hand to her chin and grabbed one of her medallion popover sundresses from off of a hanger "Literally don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's what best friends are for." Abby laughed "So Leo and I went out again last night"

"Things seem to be really heating up between you two"

"Oh you mean like you and Fitz? You two have been inseparable for past month and you STILL haven't told me how he asked you out"

Olivia blushed at the thought as she changed "Well…"

 ** _Flashback- 2 weeks after the music video shoot. (Early June)_**

"I may or may not have burnt the popcorn" Fitz peeped his head over his shoulder, embarrassed that he couldn't even make the worlds easiest snack, and it just HAD to be Olivia's favorite snack that he screwed up.

Olivia tried to look, but his body was blocking the bowl. "I told you not to keep it in there too long, but you just didn't want to listen Mr. " _I want every kernel to get popped"_ She mocked, in as relatively deep voice as she sat atop her kitchen counter.

He stuck out his tongue at her and threw a few pieces of popcorn at her "Okay miss. know-it-all."

She couldn't even be mad at the mess he was making "I'll just make some more"

He placed his hand on her leg, refraining her from jumping down "I've got this." he said as dumped the burnt items in the trash and restarted the popcorn maker.

She pulled the back of his t-shirt towards her so that he was standing between her legs. "Next time you call yourself Chef Fitz, I'm definitely bringing this up"

He playfully poked her belly button "Hold up, this was just a trial run."

He always made funny facial expressions that made her cackle "Ah, you make me laugh, I swear"

Fitz intertwined their fingers and stretched their arms out whilst still standing between her legs "I can't believe we've come full circle"

She looked at him very confused "What?"

"The fact that we went from strangers, to kissing at a party, to good friends and now we're dating."

Olivia nodded her head "Yeah, it's crazy how life works. That " _what if"_ thought would pop up in my mind every now and then when it came to us."

Fitz looked at her quizzically "What do you mean?"

"How nothing happened after that first kiss, we just went on to being friends and now here we are"

"I love it though, it's like I don't have to be something I'm not when I'm with you. I'm not _Fitz Grant_ when I'm with you, I'm just Fitz."

Olivia ran her hands up and down the sides of his arms "I feel like our friendship prepared us for this… we can just _be."_

"I want this" He pointed between the both of them "Me and you, officially."

Olivia leaned in closely to kiss his lips "Well good because I'm not letting you go anywhere."

 ** _End of flashback_**

"So yeah, it wasn't anything major but it was perfect" She said as she did her makeup.

"That's so freaking cute and I even got 20 bucks out of it" Abby huffed.

Olivia paused her movements "I can't believe you three were betting on us, you guys have issues"

Abby laughed "Harrison started it and I knew it'd be an easy 20 bucks to earn so you can't really blame me"

"Mhmm" Olivia teased, beforing realizing her doorbell was ringing "Fitz is at the door, I'll call you tomorrow, alright? Love ya."

"I will and have fun. Love you, too!"

* * *

Olivia was relieved when she stepped outside of the front door and saw Fitz dressed just as casual as she was. He wore a white polo shirt with dark blue khaki shorts, brown boating shoes and ray ban clubmaster sunglasses hanging on his shirt.

"You look amazing" Fitz complimented as they walked towards the elevator.

"You don't look too bad yourself, big head." Olivia grinned as she pressed the button for the first floor.

Once they were inside of the G-Wagon, Fitz blasted the air conditioning. "This heat is killer"

Olivia opened the vent closest to her so she could cool off "Tell me about it"

"John couldn't have his party in doors like a normal person"

She lightly shoved his shoulder "It's his party and he can do what he wants to!"

He held up his hand "He's got you wrapped around his finger"

She chuckled "He's a sweet heart"

Fitz gave her stern look "That's what _you_ think"

This made her laugh even harder "Don't be jealous, baby."

Just as Fitz went to respond, his phone began to chime signaling he had a text from Leo.

"Can you tell me what he said?" He asked her, not wanting to risk their safety nor break the law by texting and driving.

She agreed and read it: **_Got some extra space for the Skrillex show encore beach club in Vegas for 4th of July wknd. U and Liv down?_**

Fitz looked at Olivia and the road ahead "Do you wanna go?"

"Hell yeah, it sounds like it'll be fun." she grinned

"I don't think sin city is ready for the both of us"

 **xx**

"Olivia!" Fitz's mother, Lisa Grant, greeted them as they made their way inside of the house. "It's been much too long!"

Olivia smiled brightly, she never could get over how nice Fitz's mom had been to her over the years "It's so great to see you"

"Where's dad?" Fitz asked as he gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.

"He's out back with everyone" She gestured for them to follow her "Follow me"

Lisa walked a few feet ahead of the couple as she lead them to the backyard where everyone was. "Fitz and Olivia are here" she announced

The few gasps as they entered the back yard didn't go unnoticed to Olivia as she figured they were from a couple of John's friends "Hi everybody"

Fitzgerald "Gerry" Sr. paused his conversation he was having with some of the adults and approached his wife, Fitz and Olivia "Hey there"

Olivia greeted Gerry as John made his presence known "Thanks for coming, Liv"

She hugged him "Of course! How's it feel to be officially done with high school?"

"So damn good"

Though he was a lot taller than her, Lisa eyed her son, clearly unhappy with his choice of words "try again"

"Sorry" John huffed playfully "I'm excited for college. Stanford's gonna be sick"

"What are you studying?"

Gerry proudly rested a hand on John's shoulder, interjecting "Civil Engineering just like his father, although I'm a UC-Berkeley alum!"

Fitz noticed the annoyed facial expression plastered all over his brothers face, but figured it was because of his father's decision to answer for him, so decided not to read too much into it. "I've already let John know I'm gonna have to crash at least ONE of his many parties when he gets up there"

John held up his hand "Not happening, bro."

"I'll make sure big brother here doesn't get any ideas" Olivia winked as she patted Fitz's chest, causing everyone to cackle.

"Why don't you guys join me in the kitchen for a bit?" Lisa gestured towards the couple to follow her and Gerry and they did.

"I got you guys a few tickets for the album release party if you wanna come." Fitz said as he handed his father the tickets.

"Thanks buddy. Are you getting excited? The day will be here before you know it"

"These months are just flying on by" Lisa added

"Yeah I am, the feedback for the first single and video was great so I'm hoping I get the same for the album"

"Your dad and I were shocked when we first saw Liv in the video" Lisa laughed "You guys looked so wonderful together"

Olivia blushed, holding Fitz's hand she responded "Thanks, Mrs. Grant"

Lisa huffed and gently poked Olivia's side "I've been telling you for years that you can call me Lisa! Especially now that you two are an item!"

She chuckled "Alright alright, noted!"

"If I can be honest" Lisa hesitated a bit, looking at Fitz and Olivia "I am just so happy that Fitz finally got up the nerve to ask you out! I always told him I thought you two would be just perfect together"

"Mommmm chill" He groaned but Olivia looked up at him adoringly.

"Lisa's right" Gerry joined in "Whenever he's wit us and you call, his face just lights up"

Fitz had officially had enough "Alright, I think it's time to cut Johns cake"

They jointly erupted into laughter, teasing Fitz had to be one of the highlights of the afternoon.

* * *

"Ahem!" Fitz cleared his throat, holding up his glass of scotch. "I just wanted to say a few words of congratulations for my little brother, Johnny boy!"

Everyone laughed at the exaggerated tone in Fitz's voice as he used the nickname that he gave his brother growing up. "But on a serious note, I'm very proud of you, bro. You graduated with high honors along with a swimming scholarship to attend one of the top schools in the nation. With you being 8 years younger than me it would've been easy for us to not be close but I'm glad to say that we're the complete opposite. I know your future's going to be bright and that this is only the beginning. Love you!"

 **xx**

Lukas, one of John's closest friends from school happened to be among his many guests at the party and he was anything but oblivious to Olivia and Fitz's sudden presence at the party. The initial shock of seeing Fitz in person had semi-worn off after meeting him a few times because of John, but being a major fan of Olivia Pope's made him internally squeal when he noticed her talking to John's family members. Everyone knew she was dating Fitz but just like him, no one thought she would show up for a little graduation party but nonetheless there she was, standing less than 30 feet away from himself and the surrounding circle of friends. Would it be rude to ask for a picture? Should he just play it cool and act like he doesn't even notice her? Damn it, he couldn't fake it even if he tried, he needed to meet her… I mean this was _the_ Olivia Pope. The girl he had scene on and inside of numerous magazines, the name he had heard on almost every celebrity news channel; he HAD to get proof of this moment and what better way to do so than a snapchat story? He quickly and as subtly as possible tried to take a picture but just as he snapped the picture, the flash went off, and because of his untimely bad luck mixed with the fact that it was nearing evening time and the flash was easier to spot, Fitz noticed the guy holding the phone whilst frozen in place and chuckled under his breath as Olivia followed his lead by looking over at the guy, but instead of just standing there, curiosity overcame her and she excused herself and made her way towards him.

"You know you could've just asked for a picture? I don't bite." Olivia smirked, wanting to reassure the guy she wasn't mad or anything.

Lukas gulped and said "I didn't want to bother you, I'm really sorry. I'm such a huge fan, I think you're stunning and so talented!"

"No worries. I'll tell you what, how about we take a pic together?"

Lukas covered his mouth, unable to get form a complete sentence "Th-th-this is insane! YES! Oh my God!"

She could never get tired of seeing different people's reactions when they were around her. Some of the things that came with being a celebrity annoyed the shit out of her, but something as simple as a picture making someone's day seemed to overshadow all of the cons.

* * *

After the party, Fitz and Liv were waiting at a stop light when his song came on the radio and Olivia exaggeratedly sang along.

Fitz looked around the car as if he were trying to find something "Damn, somebody needs to sign this girl already!" He teased

"You better watch out, your label might just dump you for me." She laughed as she continued to sing under her breath.

"You know, I've been doing this for years and I still get a funny feeling in my stomach whenever I hear my song on the radio… it's surreal."

Olivia rubbed his neck, "Well your voice gives me goosebumps"

"I tend to have that affect" He smirked as they pulled into his driveway.

"Who's car is that?" She asked when she saw a black Mercedes van pulling into the gate.

Fitz got out the car "You'll see"

Olivia eyed him with a curious smile, she didn't know what he had planned. Once they entered the house, and flicked on the lights, their eyes diverted to the plates of covered baked treats spread across one of the counters and a champaign bottle.

She turned and looked up at him, "How? When?"

"I have my ways" he chuckled "We've already done the restaurant thing so I figured why not have a low-key date in the house?"

She shook her head "You're—"

The doorbell interrupted her, and Fitz said "Hold that thought, babe" He rushed over to the door and in came two women. "Thanks for coming on such short notice. You guys can set up in the living room"

He walked back over to a puzzled Olivia and knew he had to fill her in as they walked up the stairs "They're masseuse's"

Olivia grinned, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd had time to get a massage "I mean, you can stop spoiling me at any minute"

He walked closely behind her as he lead her to his master bathroom "Here's a robe you can change into to" He said, passing it to her while grabbing one for himself.

 **xx**

As soon as they both were changed, they went back downstairs and Olivia was in ah of the ambiance; candles were lit and soothing music was playing as one of the masseuse's made her way towards them.

"Good evening, I'm Ashley and that's my partner Marie," she pointed towards the other masseuse whom was standing next to one of the table beds. She diverted her attention directly at Olivia "Is this your first massage?"

"Oh, no, but I haven't had one in months."

"Alright, well we're going to take great care of you. If you'll just get comfortable-" The lady smiled as she lead her towards the table "And I'll hold the blanket over you so you may remove your robe."

Olivia nodded as she followed the ladies directions. Once she was nearly naked, minus her undergarments of course, she laid face down on the bed and looked over at Fitz whom was already in position, only a few inches away on the other table bed, grinning at her.

She mouthed "What?"

A perverted response was on the tip of his tongue, but he held back since they obviously weren't alone. "Nothing, you just look beautiful" he whispered as Marie began to knead his back.

She smiled "Thank you, handsome"

Ashley went to work on her lower back and it caused a very low moan to escape Olivia's mouth which immediately caught Fitz's attention; they hadn't slept together so that was the first time he'd heard a noise like that come from her mouth. It turned him on so much that he had to somehow control his manhood. He let go of her hand and tried to think of something to distract himself. _Get yourself together man._

* * *

"Babe, wake up" Fitz overheard, he must've fallen asleep during the massage. He turned over and saw Olivia standing next to him.

"How long was I out?"

"I'd say 20 minutes or so" She giggled. "Ashley said they'd swing by and pick up the table beds tomorrow; she didn't want to wake you."

Fitz sorted his curls out of his face and pulled her body close to his so she was now standing looking down at him closely, their foreheads together.

"Your hair's gotten so long" She said, as she tangled her fingers in his curls "It's usually much shorter" she observed, his hair had grown out to reach the mid-center of his neck.

"Nah, I'm just gonna get the back and sides cut, I'll leave the curls at the top though."

She smirked "Good, because my hands need something to play with"

"I've got something they can play with" He teased, pulling one of her hands towards the opening in his boxers briefs.

She kind of surprised him when she didn't object, instead she just let her hand wonder around the outside of his briefs, teasing him a bit as she gave a small smile and cupped his chin in her free hand, and kissed him tenderly. Nothing shy of want and desire filled the room and Olivia knew exactly what she wanted, him. She paused her movements and started walking towards the stairs, when she didn't seen him directly behind her she looked back at him and said "Come on"

Fitz didn't waste any time rushing towards her, placing his hands around her waist as they made their way inside of his bedroom. She turned around and looked at him, her eyes were so piercing, it was as if she was reading his soul as she pushed him towards the wall and he immediately grabbed her face and kissed her hungrily. He pulled apart the tied knot holding her robe together and moved his hands inside, exploring the soft feel of her beneath his hands. He wanted to see her remove the robe so he paused their movements and said "take it off"

She began to move backwards towards the bed as she disrobed and threw it on the ground, presenting her donning nothing but black cheeky panties. She simpered, as her eyes focused remotely on Fitz's standing erection as he walked towards her, picking her up all the while moving them to the center of his bed. "You sure about this?"

Olivia shook her head and pulled his face towards hers, wanting to feel his lips on hers. Their tongues simultaneously moved in each others mouths, demanding contact.

Fitz pulled her hair out of the high bun it was in and gracefully moved his hand down her back only to grasp her cheeks which caused another moan to escape her lips. The sounds alone were enough to make him cum, but he backtracked and pecked kisses down the front of her body, careful to pay close to attention to her breasts. He sucked on her nipple, which in turn made her throw head back in lust, the feeling clearly overtaking her. "You like that?" He asked, he wasn't usually an extremely vocal person in the bedroom but something about her just made him want to be reassured that he was giving her everything she deserved. Her needs came before his as he wanted to make her feel things she'd never felt before.

She could barely get any words out, knowing that he had her feeling this way without even being inside of her was foreign. "Y-Yes baby" She stuttered, wanting nothing but to have him inside of her already, she reached for the hem of his briefs, trying to pull them down he grabbed her hand. She of course was confused but didn't receive a word from him, he just moved between her legs and pulled her underwear off. She watched as his tongue licked up and down her clit until her back arched on his own and she couldn't see his movements, but she could feel him licking all around her entrance, teasing and sucking every inch.

"Shit!" She yelled, the feeling consuming every inch of her. He pecked kisses on the insides of her legs, as he made his back up towards her, one of his hands trailed behind, he entered a finger inside of her all the while kissing her neck, careful not leave an area untouched, he looked at her face and watched as she bit her bottom lip, "Damn, you look so beautiful" he commented, this was on another level, her facial expressions were about to make him burst, he needed to be inside of her. He removed his hand and reached into his side table; judging by his movements she knew exactly what he was doing and when she noticed he was ready, she looked down as he rubbed his member and he lined himself up against her entrance, it took a few seconds for her to adjust to his size and this obviously didn't go unnoticed to Fitz as he watched her facial expressions, "You want me to stop?"

She pulled his body closer towards hers and said "I'm fine, keep going"

He picked up the pace and sucked on her plump lips in the process. After a few seconds, he noticed that her body began to lead the movements as one of her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper inside of her; it was as if she fit damn near perfectly around him "Liv" He grunted in pleasure as he laid his head on her shoulder all the while continuing his movements, wanting to give her everything he had.

Olivia whispered in his ear "You're fucking me so good baby, I'm so close"

The way she said it and the words themselves made him go into overdrive as he picked up the pace "let go, baby" he said, as he felt her insides clench around him, and she did just that all the while pulling him over the edge with her.

"Damn." He heavily breathed out, as he got off of her and moved next to her on the bed.

She rolled onto her side and kissed his cheek "Damn is right"

He laughed and pulled her closely towards him, wrapping one of her legs across his as they cuddled.

After a few minutes of silence, Olivia paused her movements of tracing circles in his abs, looked up at him and said "You know you are the first guy to ever go down on me…"

Fitz sat up, placing his back on the headboard, which caused her to kneel on her elbow, peering up at him. "Are you serious?"

She shyly hid her face under the cover, instantly regretting sharing that.

He giggled, pulling the sheet off "I'm not saying it in a bad way, babe. I just assumed that _what's-his-face_ did it to you"

She couldn't help but laugh at his choice of words "He didn't think it was a _manly_ thing to do"

Fitz sucked his teeth "Well, you don't have to worry about that from now on. I loved doing it to you. It's all about making the woman I love feel good" the word rolled off of his tongue so easily, he almost didn't even realize he had said it.

Olivia sat up and looked directly in his eyes and she didn't even have to say anything before he was saying "You heard that correctly"

She reached up and straddled him "Well you've definitely surpassed that."

He caressed her sides, "Good, but I'm not done with you yet" he winked, pushing them over so he was hovering over her which caused her to squeal with delight.

* * *

 **Fourth of July weekend, Saturday:**

Fitz and Olivia flew into Vegas on a private jet. They were meeting up with Leo, Abby, Harrison and Quinn. The weekend was bound to be exciting, after-all, they were in sin-city.

Olivia made her way down the jet stairs with Fitz right behind her "Babe, where are we meeting everyone?"

"They're already at the hotel" He answered, as they approached their bodyguards, Tom and Hal waiting for them near the black Escalade SUV.

Once they all exchanged pleasantries, they were on their way.

They'd both stayed at Caesars Palace on different occasions, but being there together was bound to be a weekend neither would forget.

"Olivia got out of the car and almost immediately people walking in and out of the hotel were stopping to take pictures and yelling out for her and when Fitz made his way from around the other side of the SUV it only got crazier, but thankfully they had Tom and Hal to keep the people from getting close to them. Fitz stopped to take a selfie with a young girl and Olivia quickly did the same for a middle aged lady that continuously yelled "My daughter loves you! Please!". They both wished they could've done more but they didn't want things to get out of hand and thankfully the papparazi had to stay off of the hotels immediate grounds but they knew they more than likely got their pictures from the sidewalk angle. Once they were checked in, they were escorted to the Nobu Penthouse.

"The beauty of this place never wears off" Olivia said as she threw herself onto the couch, glancing at the ceiling above them.

Fitz playfully moved her feet so that he could sit next to her. "Did you tell them what room we were in?"

She looked at her phone "Yeah, Abby said they'll be here any—"

Knocking at the door interrupted her mid sentence, laughing to heself, she knew it was Abby, "Like clockwork"

"Ms. Pope, it is Ms. Whelan and company"

"Let her in" She hollered and in came the entire gang. Abby ran over towards Liv and jumped on top of her, they hadn't seen much of each other in the last month due to busy schedules of course. "I missed you!" She gleamed, hugging her bestie as tightly as possible

"You're gonna kill her" Fitz teased as he watched the two out of the corner of his eye, all the while greeting Leo, Harrison and Quinn.

Once Olivia caught her breath she greeted everyone else and they all began to chat about different things. "You guys aren't even in your swimming suits yet?!"

"We literally JUST got here"

"This one practically walked out of the car in hers" Leo laughed, as he tickled Abby's side.

"Hey, I had a coverup on!"

Fitz shook his head at the two, when he first found out the two had began seeing each other after Harrison's party, he didn't know how that would work out because Abby was so blunt and Leo seemed to always be a bit more reserved but now it seemed as though she was helping him come out of his shell so he was all for it "Well you guys can chill down here for a minute and help yourselves to a drink or snacks, we'll go change and be back down in a few minutes"

"Sounds good" Harrison said as he grabbed a pool stick off of the wall to play "Who's ready to lose $20?"

The group groaned in unison.

 **xx**

Leo had rented out a balcony bungalow at the Encore Beach Club so they could have a bit of privacy without being completely cut off from all of the guests that were there, too.

Olivia wore a white Ondademar cut-out triangle top and Fitz wore blue and white checkered swimming trunks.

"I can't wait to see your new movie when it comes out" Olivia said to Quinn, referring to a new film by the name of "Room" that her friend had been casted as the lead in, as she helped her put sunscreen on her back.

"It was such a long and emotional process so I really can't wait for everyone to see it."

Olivia thoroughly enjoyed talking to Quinn about acting and such, it had been something she had always wanted to get into and she had even been working with an acting coach for over three years now, but she refrained from sharing this bit of information with anyone but her parents. She knew that when the time was right, she would take that step into that part of Hollywood, but for right now her focus was solely on modeling.

"Why are we talking about work on vacation?!" Harrison teased as he grabbed the suntan lotion bottle out of Quinn's hand "Skrillex is about to start his set" He said, looking at the time on his phone.

"Excuse you, rude!" Quinn rolled her eyes as she flicked his ear,

Olivia laughed at the two when Fitz came over and gestured for her to follow him towards the balcony so they could take in the view of the pool area and all of the people. "This is great, huh?" he asked, kissing her cheek.

She overlooked all of the people in the pool and dancing beneath them, "Yeah! Leo really hooked this up."

Music began to fill the air and it was Skrillex featuring Justin Bieber's "What do Ü mean".

"I doubt this song will ever get old" Olivia commented as she bobbed her head to the beat

Fitz agreed as he moved to stand directly behind her, with his arms wrapped around her waste, swaying side to side with the music.

"Get a room" Leo teased

Meanwhile Abby and Quinn were dancing and snap chatting all of it, right next to Fitz and Olivia "in Vegas with the gang" Abby yelled over the loud music as she slowly twirled about, trying to capture everyone in her snapchat. "We've got these two troublemakers" she zoomed in on Leo and Harrison whom were smoking cigars and playing cards and then she turned her phone towards Olivia and Fitz and said "and these two cuties" this caused Fitz to kiss Olivia on the cheek and smile at the camera while Olivia grabbed his LA dodgers hat off of his head and place it on her own head.

Once Abby stopped filming them, he said "I don't get the hype over snapchat"

"You'd have to get an account to understand" Abby teased, knowing Fitz didn't have one. "Want me to help you make one?"

Fitz shrugged "Fine, I doubt I'll be using it a lot though"

After Abby gave Fitz a brief tutorial on how to use the app, Fitz was ready to try it on his own. He added a few pictures and videos to his story and posted one of himself and Olivia with the puppy ears filter on instagram.

 **xx**

After spending all day in the sun, everyone went to their respective suites to rest up before hitting the club later that night.

Nearly 2 hours after falling asleep together, Olivia awoke from her nap to find the left side of the bed empty, but before her brain could question Fitz's whereabouts, she heard loud noise coming from outside of the bedroom. She put one of Fitz's t-shirts on and quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face to make herself more alert prior to following the noise around the spacious penthouse, until she found him sitting on the couch, extremely focused on the NBA 2K16 video game he was playing. She sat next to him and snuggled closely to his body.

"Did I wake you?" He asked worriedly without taking his eyes off of the screen.

She laid her head on his shoulder and watched him play "Not really, but I assume you're the lakers team?"

"You know it! But I've gotta admit, it's weird playing this and Kobe not being in the league anymore"

"I know, it's gonna be weird going to a game next season and not seeing him on the court"

"I don't even wanna think about it" he whined.

She giggled at his facial expression before her stomach growled loudly.

Taking notice, Fitz asked "Wanna order room service?"

She shook her head and got up in search for the menu "Yeah"

He paused the game when she came back over to him with the menu so he could look too "A ribeye steak would be clutch"

"The grilled chicken salad sounds amaze"

Fitz rolled his eyes at her "You always eat healthy, we're on vacation… you can cheat a bit."

She flipped the page "You're right. I'll go for the grilled chicken sandwich and fries."

He smiled and grabbed the phone so he could place their orders.

 **xx**

After devouring their dinner, they laid out on the couch together, with him holding her next to him.

He played with the bottom hem of the t-shirt that she was wearing "You rock my t-shirts better than I do"

She turned to face him so their faces were only a few inches a part "You're only saying that because you like to look at me in them"

He smirked "Forreal, you could make a trash bag look fashionable"

That statement caused Olivia to chuckle a bit, "Why thank you babe, you're not so bad yourself."

He playfully licked her bottom lip and sucked on it "I love your lips"

She mocked his gestures but added a long kiss "Well I love your entire face"

"We should tell the others that we caught a bug and can't go out tonight. We could stay in and…" he wiggled his eyebrows

Knowing exactly what he was referring to, she tickled his armpit "No! We can't ditch everyone because you're horny"

Sarcasm filling his tone, "Like you aren't." He absolutely loved the fact that even though their status had changed, they were still able to be their same goofy selves that they'd grown to love each other for.

She rolled her eyes, the fact that he knew her so well was backfiring at the moment, "You're being naughty"

"Baby, you ain't seen nothing yet" With a devilish grin plastered on his face, he crawled over her body, picked her up with her legs immediately clinging to his waist side as he ran towards the bedroom.

 **xx**

"What was the point of me telling you not to leave marks?" Olivia asked as she examined her neck in the vanity mirror.

Fitz laughed as he came up behind her, wearing nothing but Ralph Lauren boxer briefs.

"In the moment it kind of went in one ear and out of the other…" he leaned down, briefly pecking the spot she was referring to "Besides, that's what make-up is for"

She smacked his butt "Shutup… and are you getting ready?"

"Actually, Leo's gonna come cut my hair before we head out" Fitz said. Leo made a living as a celebrity barber which is how they became such good friends.

Olivia frowned a bit "Don't cut it too short"

Fitz raised his hand "Woah, we already discussed this, the curls are here to stay."

She got up and kissed him briefly. "Good. Well, I'm gonna shower."

 **xx**

"Bro I don't think I've ever seen you this happy; Liv's great for you." Leo said as he added hydrating spray to Fitz's curls.

"Yeah, and to be honest bro, I think I'm falling for her…"

Leo looked at him from the side "I would say it's very soon but you guys do have years of history, so never mind. Have you told her?"

Fitz rubbed his eyes "Not yet, I mean, we've always said _I love you_ as friends but this is different. I guess it'll happen when it's supposed to."

"Yeah, timing is essential." Leo added

Olivia came walking into the bathroom that they were in "It looks great babe."

Leo brushed the excess hair off of him "You're all set, bro"

Fitz reached for his wallet and gave him $100. "Thanks, man. You always have me looking right"

"I always tell you that it's no charge"

"And as I always tell _you_ , this is your business, take the money."

Leo bumped his fist and took the cash.

Olivia interjected "Everyone's ready but you two so…"

He packed up his kit "No worries, Abby's gonna rush me so I should only be a few minutes."

The mental image of her best friend made her laugh "See you in a few"

* * *

"Olivia! Fitz! Look to your left!" One of the photographers yelled out to the couple as they posed for pictures together on the red carpet at club 1 Oak. Olivia wore a strapless sweetheart romper with a black Brian Atwood labrea heel while Fitz stood with his arm holding her waist, wearing a blue button down with dark grey slacks and tan dress shoes. Once they were done taking a dozen pictures, Fitz grabbed Olivia's hand and lead her off to the side to follow everyone else inside when a paparazzi blurted out "Fitz man, you know you're lucky right?"

Fitz usually didn't give them the time of day, but he felt compelled to answer him "Hell yeah I am"

The crowd started to make comments and whistle which caused Olivia too feel a bit shy but overall his comment made her smile and she decided to say something even though the question wasn't for her "We both are"

He was pleasantly surprised and his immediate reaction was to kiss her hand as they followed everyone else inside of the club.

"How the hell is everyone doing tonight?" Harrison yelled on the mic. When the crowds response wasn't as good as he knew they could be he asked again and he continued "That's more like it! Y'all get ready to turn up because we've got dj stixx on the turntables, lets gooooo"

"Lets dance!" Olivia yelled into Fitz's ear over the music before standing up and holding her hand out.

Fitz grabbed her hand and they danced closely to _One Dance_ by drake. "Grips on ya waist, front way back way" He sang along to the lyrics, directly into her ear.

Olivia blushed and laughed all at the same time. Not only did she love this song but his voice alone sent chills down her spine. He pulled her body dangerously close to his, wanting her to grind every inch of her body on him. She intertwined their fingers and took in the moment. There had to be over 100 people in the venue but in that moment it felt as if they were the only two and it was a glorious feeling.

Out of no where, Abby was making her way between the two "Sorry not sorry Fitz, I wanna dance with my best friend"

Fitz wasn't mad, he let the two girls dance together and he joined Harrison on the couch as they watched the girls and Quinn and Leo playfully dance together.

Harrison noticed their security guards talking to two guys but he couldn't see who they were so he patted Fitz on the shoulder, hoping he would be able to see better "Who're they talking to?"

Fitz followed the direction he was pointing towards and noticed it was Adnan's younger brother, Manuel "Manny" Salif and his friend, Cody Johnson. Manny was just as famous as his sister because of their families reality show. Before he could even question what they were doing, Tom was letting him by.

"Fitz" Manny said as he approached him.

Fitz had only met Manny once so he didn't have a clue why he was in their space "What's up?"

Manny sucked his teeth at him "You know you have some nerve"

"What are you talking about?"

"For cheating on my sister and then dumping her like a coward!"

Fitz looked at him as if he were crazy "Listen, I don't know what your sister told you but she and I were never in a relationship."

Manny shoved his chest and Harrison immediately jumped up between the two. Olivia looked over he shoulder and saw Harrison holding Fitz back, so she rushed over to see what was going on. "What's happening?" she asked worriedly

Fitz lightly moved her back "Go back over there"

"Wait a minute, isn't this the bitch that you cheated with?"

Hearing him call Olivia such a derogatory term made Fitz's blood boil and before he knew it he was trying his best to maneuver his way around Harrison so he could get to Manny but he was too quick at grabbing him. All of that didn't stop Manny from moving forward and decking Fitz between his lip and right jaw. Tom and Hal immediately ran over and pulled Manny out of the VIP section and into the club securities hands.

* * *

 **AN: A lot happened here... lemme know your thoughts x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hiiii, hope you're still interested in this story :) enjoy! xo**

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Fitz snapped at Tom as they approached the SUV with everyone else a few feet behind, excluding Olivia.

"Sir, I apologize for allowing him to pass. I mistook him for being a friend of yours and when I looked over my shoulder and saw you looking our way, you didn't object so I thought it was okay. I am very sorry and it will never happen again."

Fitz huffed as he power walked next to him, unfortunately making Olivia walk twice as fast just to keep up with him since they were holding hands. "I pay you to protect me! With all of the shit going on nowadays you can't afford any _accidents!_ "

Tom wiped sweat from his forehead, clearly a bit frazzled "Again, I apologize sir and I can one hundred percent assure you nothing like this will happen **ever** again."

Olivia tugged on his arm "Relax a bit, he's apologized several times"

Fitz rubbed his forehead, he wasn't in the mood to hear anyone's comments to be honest, not even Olivia's at this point; all he wanted to do was beat the shit out of Manny. What the fuck else had Adnan told him? He was furious.

"Don't show him that" Fitz overheard Quinn whisper, but clearly failed at trying to be secretive.

He turned around and saw the group huddled "Don't show me what?" He asked, snatching the phone out of Harrison's hand. On the screen was a video on twitter of his argument with Manny and it was posted by TMZ, captioned: **_"Fitz Grant and Manny Salif face-off at 1 Oak!"_**

Fitz took a look between the footage he was staring at and the walkway back to the club; Harrison immediately picked up on this and as soon as Fitz tried to take a step, he stopped him. "Don't. You'll regret it."

He could've broken the phone with his own hands he was so angry. Not only had this guy punched him but now there was video footage of it? At that moment, technology seemed to be more so a curse than a blessing. "What type of coward waits until you're guarded to swing? That's a bitch-ass move!" Fitz spat.

Olivia sighed, she had never seen him this livid before "Screw him. Lets just go to the hotel."

Before he could even say anything, the papparazi were rushing towards all of them, nearly blinding them with the constant camera flashes. Tom and Hal made sure they didn't too close to them and told everyone to get in the SUV's. There were at least 5 of them pressing against the SUV, asking him different things: **_"Fitz! Why'd you let Manny hit you like that?" "Is this because of Adnan?" "Does any of this involve Olivia?!"_**

Fitz ignored them and covered Olivia's face from the flash, shielding her from the craziness.

Olivia screamed into her hands "GREAT, now I'm dragged into this. Why won't they just screw off! Jeez, they're literally just glorified stalkers!"

Hal looked at her and Fitz through the rear view mirror "I'm getting you out of here right now, Ms. Pope."

Fitz huffed, "Well at least someone knows how to do their job." His eyes were like daggers in the back of Tom's head as he sat in the passengers seat. He knew he was in huge trouble.

* * *

"Well tonight went from zero to one hundred really fast" Fitz teased as he and Olivia walked into the penthouse.

Olivia rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the bathroom to grab a wet wash cloth "It's not funny, you really could've been hurt tonight."

Fitz leaned on the door frame, watching her intently. "But I'm good so…"

She walked towards him and pressed the material against his cheek and lip. Thankfully there wasn't a massive bruise. "What did he say to you?"

In that split second, he went from having the truth on the tip of his tongue to switching it up and deciding that not telling her what he said would probably be for the best. She didn't need to know that Manny had somehow figured that she was responsible for his alleged infidelity, though that was the furthest thing from the truth. "He said I was messed up for dumping his sister and called you a bitch"

"A bitch… someone he's never even met?" She chuckled sarcastically. "Very mature."

Fitz shook his head and turned on his heels to walk towards the hallway leading towards the main bedroom. "I'm firing Tom as soon as we get back to LA."

She followed, asking "When did you make that decision?"

"The moment I noticed Manny's flesh had collided with my fucking face"

She sighed and rested her body against the wall, "You know, I really wish you could've beaten his ass but I know that would've ended horribly."

Fitz heard what she said but the constant vibration in his pocket distracted him from responding; he saw that is was Cyrus whom was calling him and he was very confused as to what they had to discuss at such a late hour, but he answered.

"Well if it isn't my favorite manager" Fitz answered sarcastically

Cyrus sighed on the other end before saying "What did I say to you when you told me you were gonna be in Vegas this weekend?"

He didn't know why he was asking this, yet digressed "Don't fuck up"

"And you said?"

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"

"THEN WHY IS THERE FOOTAGE OF YOU TRYING TO SWING ON MANNY SALIF?! THAT'S NOT KEEPING IT IN VEGAS, FITZ!" Cyrus yelled loudly to the point that even Olivia could hear him and she was still near the door.

Fitz pulled the phone away from his ear and squinted, he thought sure he might've blew his eardrum out "What the hell, Cy?! What video?" He asked, clearly playing dumb at this point.

Olivia walked closer to him, asking "What now?"

Fitz put his finger up to his mouth, signaling for her to be quiet as he tried to hear what else Cyrus had to say. He reverted his focus back to the call, "There's video all over the internet of you in a nightclub and it looks like your buddy Harrison is holding you back from attacking Manny. What the hell happened in there?"

He started pacing back and forth "I didn't even hit that fucking idiot, he walked up on me and punched me. What you see is me trying to defend myself but clearly, I couldn't. Whoever took the video edited it out or didn't record the entire incident."

"Damn it! This is the last thing we need right now. TMZ is already running the fucking video on replay and social media is blowing up. I'm gonna go do damage control. I'll call you back when I hear something." He said before ending the call.

Fitz huffed whilst he opened his twitter app, wanting to check and see what was being said but instantly regretted it when he began to scan the numerous tweets he was being tagged in discussing the club incident and most even included the actual footage. This was the unfortunate downside of technology. _Fuck._

At this point Olivia was pacing back and forth because she was completely clueless at to what was happening, "What the hell is going on?"

Fitz looked at her frustratedly, shoving the phone in her face so that she could see what was happening. After seeing everything, she tried to comfort Fitz by grabbing onto his hand but all he did was yank his arm away; he was so pissed he couldn't even think straight. As if he didn't already want to beat Manny's ass, this just made it even worse. He knew going out of the hotel would only make matters worse so he did the second best thing. He grabbed his phone out of Olivia's hand and went to tweeting: **_The video you're seeing is actual bullshit & only shows a bit of what happened. Don't believe it & btw, it takes a real pussy to hit someone when they're guarded. Man up next time._**

He didn't even think twice before he clicked send. He was enraged and all he could think to do was rant since he couldn't do much else, so he continued: **_What u see is me trying to defend myself when someone hits me outta no where. My security fucked up, but trust that I'm handling that._**

Fitz wasn't going to reply to any of his mentions, but he saw one in particular asking if Olivia was safe and if they had broken up; he didn't know why that second part would even be a question but nonetheless, he figured he would clear that up before it even became a new trend... if it already wasn't. He purposefully quoted the tweet and replied: _**Yes and we are together.**_

Olivia unsuccessfully reached for his phone "Please log off. This isn't making anything better."

Fitz threw his phone on the bed and ran his hand through his hair, "A weekend in Vegas with my girl and friends and this happens… un-fucking-believable."

Olivia exhaled heavily but tried to keep an optimistic mindset "Cyrus will fix this, everything is going to get handled."

* * *

Aside from a few paparazzi here and there, the rest of the weekend went well. Olivia and Fitz were able to see a fireworks show and also just hang with their friends. The downside to everything was that Cyrus wasn't able to get the video taken down from all outlets, Twitter helped as much as possible but with technology being such a forest fire in action, once the video surfaced, it was kind of complicated to retrieve every single outlet containing the video. Realistically, Fitz knew that was probably going to be the end result but he did end up releasing a more in depth statement to clear his name and that was really all he could do. It crossed his mind to file a lawsuit but he knew that would overshadow his album release and he refused to let all of his handwork go down the drain; so he just settled for letting this one go and hoping it would just blow over once the media had a new story to obsess over.

They landed safely in LA and were now about to grab a bite to eat but Miya randomly texted Olivia. **_When you're back home, pls stop by the house… business to discuss._**

To which she replied: **_Just got back. I'll stop by soon._**

Fitz saw her place her phone in her pocket so he figured she was done speaking to her mom, so he asked "So where do you wanna get food?"

Olivia looked over at him "I can't anymore, I gotta stop by to see my mom."

He looked at her quizzically, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I guess. Apparently it's about work."

"Okay. Well we can still stop by a drive-thru or something, you haven't eaten since breakfast."

"In-n-out?" She smiled devilishly, she loved cheat days.

He laughed at the way her face lit up "You heard the woman, Hal. Burgers it is!"

 **xx**

"Damn, that food hit the spot" Olivia said as she placed her trash in the bag.

"I see that" Fitz teased,

"So what are you gonna do the rest of the day?"

"I'm gonna go home and just hang out for a bit until Cyrus calls me back again with options for a new security detail. I'm gonna personally interview them myself, too, to make sure I don't have another fuck up."

Olivia nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, "Well good, I know you'll find someone great."

Once they dropped Fitz off at his place, it only took 15 minutes to get to her parents house. She arrived and was relieved when she only saw her mom's Bentley in the driveway; she hadn't seen her father in nearly 2 months and she could last another if she had to.

She made her way into the house and followed the noise of a printer, and she knew her mom was in her office.

"Knock, knock." she lightly tapped the side of the door, smiling as she embraced Miya whom was sitting at her desk.

"Hey, honey. How was the flight?"

"We had a little turbulence but other than that, it was fine. What are you up to?"

"Oh I was just printing out some stuff. How's Fitz doing?"

Olivia took a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk, "He has to meet with Andrew tomorrow so he's a little bummed about that but other than that, he's okay."

"I'm just glad that you're all okay and that the stories dying down a little."

"Yeah, but what business do we need to discuss?"

Miya pushed her glasses up on her nose "Well, remember when we had that meeting with J. Crew about you doing a collection for them?"

"Uh, yes" Olivia answered, a little on edge.

"Well, they reached out to me and they want you to do a limited addition spring line for next year! And they loved your idea for incorporating your name with the line itself so they came up with: _Liv for J. Crew, by Olivia Pope."_ Miya explained cheerfully _"_ You get it… Liv, as in _Living_ for their fashion?"

Olivia leaped out of her seat, moving closer to her mom's chair "Oh my god, mom! I hope you told them yes!"

Miya laughed at how giddy she was, "I wouldn't be a good manager if I didn't run it by you first."

"Well, yes! Let them know I am 150% down for this. Ah, I'm so excited!"

Miya beamed, seeing all of her daughters dreams come true made all of the stress of her job worth it. "I'm so happy for you. Didn't I tell you all of your hard work would pay off?"

Tears began to weld Olivia's eyes "You did. Thanks."

Miya reached up and wiped a tear from her eyes "Alright. Well, since you're already here, we mine as well go over your agenda for the next two weeks."

She sat back down and sat on her legs "Shoot"

"So tomorrow and Thursday you have to take your updated portrait photos for your portfolio and Friday you have a meeting with Heather from Calvin Klien to discuss your next photoshoot for the underwear ad's which will feature Jacob Ballard. And finally, you have Italy next week for the vogue italia feature and the following week you are going to the J. Crew headquarters in New York."

"Wait, we have Fitz's album release party on the 22nd, I can't miss that!"

"You'll get back just in time for it, I promise."

"I don't wanna take any chances and miss—"

"Liv, this is business and we have to be respectful of their time, too."

"Fine but I better be back in LA; I refuse to miss his big night."

"Relax. If everything goes to schedule we will be back home in time."

Olivia sighed, she went from excited to worried within a matter of seconds, sometimes her life was even too much for HER to handle.

"What's that noise?" Miya asked, as she extended her body out of her seat to see if she could see down the hallway.

Olivia had a clearer view, so she spotted Eli walking towards the door almost immediately. _Shit._

"He's in town?" Olivia asked in a hush tone, hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"I didn't think he would make it in until tonight, he must've left New York earlier."

"Liv" Eli leaned down a kissed her forehead before sitting on the edge of Miya's desk. "Ah, the good ol' agenda meeting."

Olivia glared at him, they hadn't seen each other since the incident in New York and even right now, she still didn't want to be anywhere near him. "Father"

Eli wasn't numb to the fact that she had called him _father_ , but he didn't push "I'm glad that I'm finally getting to see you face to face instead of on my tv, laptop or on a newsstand. I've missed you and again, I am truly sorry for what I did."

She grabbed her purse and sat up, clearly preparing to leave "I really don't wanna discuss this right now…"

"If not now, when? Please just give me a few minutes to explain myself." He asked, not wanting her to go.

She folded her arms and slouched back in her seat, "Do your best"

Eli exhaled heavily and crossed his arms, "Listen, sweetheart… I know I messed up. I had no right to do that to your mother and I will apologize to her and you, everyday for the rest of my life if I have to. But you see, your mother and I had gotten to a point where our relationship turned out to be just a roommate type of marriage. We were only communicating to check in, when I was in town I was either working or she was working so I let the romance die and I take full responsibility for it because I am bi-coastal; so if anything I should have made even more an attempt to keep the spark alive. I take full responsibility for what I've done to our family and I really hope that with time you can forgive me because you are the light of my life and I hate that I disappointed you like this."

Olivia looked up at the ceiling, collecting her thoughts, and to keep from crying. "I just don't get how you could do that to us. Up until then I literally had you on a pedistal, you were the perfect father to me. You loved me, you always kept it real with me and most importantly you were always there for me no matter what so to know that you could just do something like that without even thinking about how it would affect your wife and daughter, really makes it hard for me to even look at you."

"I know and I'm going to do everything I can to try and earn your trust back"

Olivia was now full on crying and it didn't help that her mom was crying, too. "It's honestly gonna take time, I'm still very angry with you."

"And that's fine, take all of the time you need I just can't take not speaking to you at all. It has been hell not hearing how your day has been or hearing your crazy laugh. I have missed you beyond words."

Olivia didn't have any words and she was grateful when her mom began to speak up "Liv I just hope that you don't look at me differently for wanting to work things out with your father, because that makes me lose sleep."

"Mom! No!" Liv cried harder "I respect your decision either way, I was just pissed off at first and I still am but if you guys feel like you love each other enough to try and salvage your marriage then I say do it, and if it doesn't work out then at least you won't have any doubts in the future"

Eli got up and hugged her "I love you. I promise to never hurt you like this ever again."

Olivia was still very much iffy about this entire situation but she felt slight relief in knowing that they were at least moving forward "Love you, too, Dad."

 **xx**

Olivia decided to stay for dinner since it was a rare occurrence that they were all able to sit down and have a nice family dinner all together.

"I was telling your mom that I'm only going to be flying to the New York office one week out of the month now. I hired another manager to take over more of the work load so I won't have to be there as much." Eli sipped his wine "I'll be in the guest house, but I'll be here"

"That's good" She answered, she really didn't know what to say.

"So your mom told me that you've been dating that Fitz Grant guy." Eli said as he dug into his salmon.

Olivia grabbed a dinner roll out of the basket in front of her "Yeah, I am."

Miya placed her wine glass down on the table and said "He's a great guy and comes from a really nice family, Eli."

"He's in the news a lot, and I saw that article on Yahoo about a fight he got into with that spoiled **boy** from that stupid reality show, Ke _eping up with the Salif's_. You sure you need to be with someone like that, Liv?"

She paused her movements and looked him dead in the eyes "As if you're anyone to judge. That fight wasn't even his fault"

Eli lifted his hands up in surrender "You're right. I apologize for judging him. But I really did think that you and Russell were going to eventually get back together. I really liked him."

Olivia sucked her teeth "You liked the free Lakers tickets he got you."

Eli coughed "No, no. He treated you very well."

"He treated me well but he also thought his career was more important than mine."

"He didn't seem like that whenever I was around you two."

"Eli" Miya warned

"What?"

Olivia sighed, dropping her utensils "Of course he wouldn't act that way in front of my dad, he's not stupid… and besides, we don't even need to have this conversation anymore because I love Fitz and he is who I am with."

Miya looked at Liv and smirked "Don't think I didn't hear that magic word"

Olivia blushed "Well I do"

"Have you told him?"

Eli looked between the two "You've only been seeing the guy for a month and some change?"

She waved her hand, clearly unfazed by what he was saying "It isn't hard to fall for someone so quickly when you've known them for years."

"Alright, alright. Well I'd like to meet him sooner than later."

"You will… when the time is right."

* * *

Fitz arrived at Apex earlier than he was supposed to, to go over last minute details about the album release party with some of his team.

"The 100 tickets sold out in less than 5 minutes. The website even crashed." Sarah, Apex's director of social media, shared.

Fitz smiled "Damn, well that's a relief."

Cyrus opened his binder, ready to give his input "You'll have the red carpet from 6:15pm-7pm and then we'll preview the first half of the album with some time for a Q&A from the fans and then we will have a meet and greet so they can get some pictures with you and then we'll finish the last of the songs and then the event will end.

"Sounds good, I'm grateful you guys were able to pull this off without a hitch"

Andrew walked into the conference room, "Everyone clear out except for Fitz and Cyrus"

Once the room was nearly empty, he slouched over the table, looking directly at Fitz. "So who wants to tell me about this Vegas Shit show, or wait… what about your crazy twitter rant?"

Fitz ran his hand through his hair and pulled his chair closer to the table "Listen… I can explain everything."

"Andrew slammed his hand directly onto the table and that made both Cyrus and Fitz jump "YOU HAVE A FUCKING ALBUM COMING OUT IN TWO WEEKS. How do you expect us to promote this shit when people only wanna associate your name with a damn cheating rumor or Manny Salif!"

"I really don't know what you expect me to do."

"Your target audience is teens from age 12 up to women in their 30's! The moms of said 12 year olds?! They're on social media threatening not to buy your fucking album because they think that you're dangerous or a cheater. No mom will support a guy like that."

Cyrus interjected "Drew, cut the guy some slack he didn't do anything wrong and the media hasn't even been playing the video nearly as much as they were the first few days"

Andrew paced back and forth "My main goal right now is to get this album to SELL. So either you guys come up with a plan to change the narrative and get the focus on Fitz back to something positive or I'm pushing the release date back another month or two and rescheduling the tour."

Fitz pushed his chair out "YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO THAT!"

Cyrus stood up and held his hand out, guarding him from moving "We will fix it, Drew. I WILL fix it. Trust me."

Andrew opened the door and looked over his shoulder before walking out, "Oh, you better."

* * *

 **AN: Do you guys think the Pope's should continue to try and work it out or just divorce? Also, was Eli right to question Liv's relationship when he has his own dirt? And finally, how do you guys feel about Andrew's reaction? Hope to read your answers and/or any other comments! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Fitz left Apex beyond furious. He was on the highway, stuck in afternoon traffic and all he wanted to do was break something but at that moment, punching his driving wheel would have to suffice. This particular album was make or break for his career, so the fact that he had to come up with a plan to take the focus off of the negativity and change it to something positive, stressed him out. He continuously replayed Andrews remarks in his head and all it did was fuel his anxiety.

Being startled from the loud honking from the car behind him caused him to get out of his own head and focus on the road. "Alright, alright!" He yelled in response to all of the honking, or more-so to himself since the _person_ behind him couldn't possibly hear his remarks from inside of his own vehicle. He caught up to the person only a few feet ahead since they were not getting too far. He groaned when his car's bluetooth notified him of an incoming call from Huck, _but_ he wasn't in the mood to talk so he ignored it. Not even a few seconds after pressing ignore, a picture of Olivia in a sweatshirt, sitting crisscross apple sauced style on his couch with one of his Lakers snapbacks on with the most adorable smile was plastered across his screen. That brought a smile to his face as he recalled taking the _picture_ of her one night when they were watching disney movies at his place. He was so _rapped_ up in the memory that he almost missed the call. He sighed because though he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, he couldn't resist picking up her call.

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Hey, how'd it go?"_ She asked.

 _He leaned his head back on his head rest,_ "It was alright"

She knew he was lying; at this point she knew him like she knew the back of her hand. _"You wanna talk about it?"_

Fitz rubbed his temple, he contemplated opening up to her, but he was semi embarrassed. _"I don't know, Liv."_

She sighed on the other end _"Babe…"_

 _"I don't wanna talk about it right now"_

Not wanting to push him, she asked _"Well, will you at least come to my place? Or I'll drive to you."_

Since he was already out, it only made sense for him to go to her place. _"I'll be there soon."_

* * *

He walked out of the elevator and approached her door. Even after spending another 30 minutes in traffic post-call, his mood hadn't changed much but knowing he was about to see his girlfriend helped.

He knocked and a few seconds later she was embracing him and rubbing his back. After nearly a minute of just silence, she paused to take in his outfit. Aside from the pout on his face, He looked so handsome. He was wearing a long sleeved white henley with dark washed skinny jeans and black and white yeezy boost 350 shoes.

Knowing she was checking him out, boosted his mood a little. She always had a way of making him feel better without even trying. "Take a pic, it'll last longer" He teased.

"Shutup" She playfully shoved his shoulder and pulled his hand as she lead them in the direction of her bedroom.

He watched her guide them and took in her appearance as well, and aside from the black tank top and jean shorts that she obviously looked hot as hell in, in that moment, her height was what caught his attention the most. He loved how tiny she was compared to him. He was brought out of his own personal thoughts when she flicked on her bedroom light, he walked in behind her and said "Damn babe, I know I give it to you good, but I just got here."

Though the joke was funny, she knew he was just throwing out jokes to mask his actual mood again. She really just wanted to take care of him and she knew he eventually would like before, when he wanted to. So for now she just wanted him to take care of him. She walked into her connecting bathroom and started the shower. He peeped his head inside of the bathroom and she gestured for him to come inside.

Fitz walked up to her and placed his hands on both sides of her waist and hoisted her up onto the counter, before lowering his head to kiss her. She was amazed at how quickly things had escalated but she found herself shirtless and nearly bra-less within a matter of seconds but before she could get too wrapped up in his grasp, she lightly pushed him away. "No. I'm taking care of you tonight."

He held his hands up and watched as she pressed her body off of the counter and began to undress him. It was different not being in control like he usually was, but he wasn't complaining.

Once they were in the shower, Olivia pressed her back against the wall, with Fitz standing in front of her, as she wanted him to feel the hot water comfortably on his back. He pressed his forehead against hers as she began rubbing shower gel on his biceps and all around his body. He was mesmerized at how attentive she was being, and even with all of the attention she was giving him, he still felt a minor disconnect and the solution was obvious. He needed to vent.

He held his hand against the wall above her head and groaned into the side of his arm. "Andrew threatened to postpone the album and tour because of the negative publicity unless I can come up with a way to switch the media attention to something positive"

She met his gaze "Have I ever told you how much I can't stand your boss?"

"Maybe once… or twice." He chuckled, pushing the wet curls out of his face "I can't let him do that, but I don't know what to do"

"Okay, so we need to switch the narrative. You should do something to make your fans happy."

He looked at her, a little confused; catching the hint, she continued. "If you do something for them, it'll catch on like a domino affect, and the media will pick it up… therefore changing the focus. The fans will be happy and you'll look good, too."

He grabbed her face and kissed her for what seemed like forever. After breaking the kiss, he looked at her and said "I love you"

She heard him say it, but she didn't know if he was just caught up in the moment or… "What?" She asked.

He caressed the side of her face as the water droplets ran down her cheek, "Liv, I'm _in_ love with everything about you. And what you just did is just a prime example as to why. You care about the real me. You see _me_ and you've been real since day one. I love you and I thank you."

The tears that had welded up in her eyes were now amongst the water flowing down her face. "I love you, too, Fitz. I'm forever grateful to have you in my life." Overcome with emotion, she pulled his chin toward her and gently tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth before sliding her tongue inside of his mouth. Following her lead he sucked on her tongue as he explored her body, finding his way to her entrance, caressing her clit in a circular motion he knew would make her go insane. She scratched his scalped and moaned into his mouth, which made him want to burst right then and there, but he held it together. She moved her mouth to the side of his ear, licking and nibbling on it "Go inside"

Her wish was his command so he went to work, pumping a single finger inside of her. Being so close and able to touch in the most intimate of ways was almost as great as hearing her express her love for it. **Almost.**

She whimpered at the contact, "It feels so good"

He was holding his own member, feeling himself as he listened to the pleasure filled noises escaping her beautiful mouth but she moved his hand, taking over as she stroked him over and over.

"Fuck, I love when you do that" He groaned into her ear.

Her pace was picking up but he pulled away, turning her around so she was facing the wall. He reached for her right leg and pulled it up, sliding his member against her folds, purposefully wanting to tease her.

She reached behind and pulled him even closer to her, moaning "Put it in"

He smirked, there was nothing sexier to him than when she begged for him. It had to be the biggest turn on for him knowing that she wanted him so bad. "Say you want it" He pressed the head of it into her entrance but slipped it back out.

It was hot as fuck when he would do this but it also annoyed the hell out of her, "I want it so bad"

He kissed the side of her neck and went all the way inside of her, giving her nice long strokes so she could feel every inch of her. In that moment she consumed every inch of him… his heart and his body, everything was _hers_.

"I love you so much" he cried into her ear, kissing the side of her neck as he picked up the pace, smashing into her walls, enjoying the ever-so-consuming feeling of her insides.

She held his left hand tighter as she felt herself getting close "I love you more"

Knowing he wouldn't last much longer, he gave her one last big stroke, hoping she would let go with him. He felt her clench around him and groaned as he came inside of her. "Fuck" He groaned.

* * *

Once they were out of the shower, they dried each other off and Fitz followed Olivia out of the bathroom. "I just remembered I have no clothes over here"

Olivia looked him up and down and laughed "You want some underwear?" She teased, clearly wanting to get a rise out of him.

"Spare me. I'll just wear my jeans, I guess."

"Oh hush, big baby" She said throwing a pair of pajama pants at him.

He tried them on but the leg area was too tight for his legs.

She turned back around after she changed into a t-shirt and boy shorts, laughed at his appearance. "Your legs look so funny in those"

He couldn't help but laugh along with her, he looked hideous in her pants. "I'll take the shorts"

Olivia gave him a pair of her pajama shorts, and thankfully they fit better, even though they were a bit short… they'd have to do for the night.

Fitz walked out of her bedroom, "Remind me to bring some stuff to your place" fixing his member so he would feel comfortable in the shorts she gave him.

Olivia was sitting on the couch, she looked over at him walking towards her and giggled "At least they look better than those tight pants"

He joined her, looking through his phone. "Okay, so, I have the tracks on a flash drive in my car so I can play them, can I use your laptop?"

"Of course! I'll go get it off the charger"

Fitz rushed to the front door so he could go out to his car to get the flash drive out of the glove compartment.

Once he was back inside, the laptop was up and waiting for him to use it. "I'm gonna use periscope, I used it once before with them and it was pretty cool. Only downside is the comments always move so damn fast"

"Do you want me to step out while you do this? I can go watch tv in my room"

"No!" He said pulling her leg towards him

"Honestly… I want to refrain from hearing the songs until the day it drops so I can be in awe like everyone else!" She confessed.

"I'm only gonna show them the intro and snippets of two songs babe"

She threw her head back "Okay, you win."

Grinning from ear to ear, he was ready to put Olivia's plan into motion but he needed to notify his fans so they'd tune in, so he tweeted: **Who wants to hear an exclusive little sneak peek of the album? Periscope in 1min ;) come hang!**

His mentions began flooding up within a second after pressing send. It truly amazed him how invested people were. Reflectively, it honestly made all of the media bullshit worth it.

He got everything set up on Olivia's laptop and opened the periscope app on his iPhone so he could his fans could see him. Though he had used the app before he was a bit taken aback at the pace of the comments flooding his screen, he could barely keep up with reading them.

"What's good, guys?" He asked, smiling at his phone.

One fan wrote: **_ilysm! I'm so ready to hear the music! :D_**

The comment made him smile; he truly loved that he could communicate with his fans like this. He took note of her name before the comment went away, so he could shout her out. "Thanks, Anna! Can't wait to play it for you guys in a minute. I'm also gonna be reading your comments and questions from twitter and Instagram since I know the capacity is full so a lot of you can't type anything on here and besides, the comments are moving so fast is kind of hard to read them on here" He laughed, he was amazed at how fast each comment disappeared.

Olivia snuck into the kitchen area to make herself a cup of tea, but peeped her head over the counter, asking "I'm ready for the intro!"

The fans went ballistic when they heard her voice, they knew it was her. This of course tickled Fitz, he liked that a lot of his fans loved Olivia just as much as they loved him.

He pressed play, and the sound of his voice filled her entire apartment.

Olivia joined him back in the tv area, but she was sitting on another couch as she didn't want to be on his periscope at that moment. As expected the intro was short but his voice was compelling. Just from those few seconds of hearing his voice she could hear the passion and love he had for what he did. She smiled and shook her head at him, clearly signaling that she loved it.

He looked between her and the screen and tried to keep from blushing, but he couldn't help it. Having her approval meant a lot to him.

The comments were filled with encouraging emoji's and he was ecstatic. He read some of his twitter mentions and he had to admit his fans were so funny. One read: **_Bitch! I'm khjhhghg. Come thru w those vocals Fitzgerald! ;)_**

Between the fans ongoing reactions whenever Olivia would chime in from the background and trying to listen to the second song of choice, _Drunk_ , Fitz almost didn't see Harrison's tweet: **_Straight fire, bro. and I know the rest is gonna be just as good._**

Fitz thought it was so funny that Harrison was a part of the periscope session without him even knowing, he was the definition of a supportive friend. Trying to keep his focus on the fans, he reverted his attention back to the task at hand.

"So as some of you guys probably already know kehlani is on this next and final track I'm gonna play. It was our first time working together and she killed it."

After he played the song, he stayed on the periscope to interact with everyone for a little longer before ending the session.

 **xx**

"Feeling any better?" Olivia asked when she awoke and turned around the next morning to see Fitz staring at the ceiling.

He was taken out of his lingering thoughts and pulled her body close to his, "Yes and it's all thanks to you"

She gave a small smile, placing her leg across the lower half of his body. "I'm glad I could help."

"And I'm sorry for not telling you what was going on when you called me yesterday. I just didnt—"

Olivia brought his words to an abrupt halt by placing her finger on his lips "Stop. You told me and that's all that matters. I understand."

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes "I don't deserve you."

"Yeah… you don't."

He sucked his teeth, looking down at her "you've got jokes, huh?"

She stuck her tongue out at him "duh!"

* * *

Thursday was Olivia's second day of shooting with highly acclaimed photographer, Jack Smith. He had taken pictures of everyone from Meryl Streep to Kanye West so when he had mentioned the opportunity to photograph her some months back at a charity event, she didn't hesitate to accept. By her own accord, there was no glam-squad; it was just the two of them in Jack's studio, two outfit changes and light makeup done all by herself. Very simple and yet she could not have been any more pleased with the way the pictures had turned out. She could not wait to add the photo's to her portfolio.

Once she arrived back at her apartment, all she could think about was napping since she didn't end up going to bed until after 3am due to her and Fitz's never-ending late night conversations where they would talk about everything ranging from stories about their childhood to their thoughts on climate change. An hour into it, she could almost taste the nap, it was _that_ good… then it wasn't. Her phone was ringing over and over and if possible, she could've fought herself for not turning it off to begin with. _Two hours to myself. That's all I wanted. Gah-damn it!_

Too lazy and annoyed to even remove the covers from her face, she answered without even looking at the caller I.D. _"Hello?"_

 _"_ _Finally!"_ James huffed _"I was just about to call Miya to hopefully get me through to your floor since you weren't answering!"_

Olivia quickly sat up, clearly confused, _"What? You're here? What's going on?"_

 _"Uh… I'm here for your fitting for the teen choice awards, girl! What's up with you? Did you go out last night or something?"_

 _"No? No! I uh,-"_ She jumped out of her bed, she couldn't let James know that she didn't even know that was scheduled. In that moment, she wanted to tell her mom off. How in the hell did she not know about this? She wasn't the type to be late or forget stuff and she sure as hell wasn't going to start today. _"I just forgot to set my alarm and I fell asleep for an hour so I'm a little out of it. I'm so sorry, I'll buzz you up now."_

James snickered on the other end, _"It's okay, Liv. Just hurry up, my arm is going numb from holding all of these outfits and shoes."_

She hung up the phone and ran to her bathroom to freshen up. Thankfully she finished in time to answer the doorbell after the first ring.

"Hey love" She greeted him, kissing both of his cheeks.

"Hi hun"

She closed the door and pointed for him to follow her into her living room. "Show me the goods"

He laughed, unzipping all of the pieces. By the time he was done, there were 6 dresses, 4 pairs of pants, 6 shirts, 5 pairs of dressy shorts, 3 jumpsuits, and 7 pairs of heels for her to choose from. "Lets start with this Stella McCartney resort dress. It's a beauty."

"That's the one I was eyeing" She smiled as she began to undress. Being a model, she was accustomed to undressing in front of people and since James was a gay man, she truly did not care if he saw her boob here or there.

She turned to look at herself in the long wall mirror, and she liked what she saw. "Well, you can pack it up. I'm wearing this one."

James checked every angle, he was a perfectionist when it came to fashion. "The attention to detail is exquisite. I love the creamy-champagne like color and the flower print… I love that they're not too overbearing."

"I take it you approve, too?" She laughed at how in the zone he was.

"Yes. But please try on this turquoise jumpsuit from Michael Kors. I want to see how it looks on you."

She obliged, knowing she could always wear it to another event. "The zipper"

James went to pull the zipper up for her, but it wouldn't go up. "Zipper's stuck, hold on I don't want to screw it up" He went to look through his bag for his glasses.

Olivia began to feel anxious at the thought of the jumpsuit not zipping up. Had she gained weight? She hadn't been to the gym in two weeks. For the most part, she was pretty confident but when it came to her body, it was hit or miss. Ever since she had experienced a stylist telling her that she needed to drop a few pounds at a show she did in Paris when she was 18, it made her more obsessive about maintaining a certain figure.

"I'm just gonna wear the dress. Should I wear the red pumps with them?" She said pulling the jumpsuit down her legs.

James was confused, he figured the zipper was just stuck. But If she wanted to wear the dress, he wasn't going to push it anymore. "Yes the red pair will make the flowers pop!"

 **xx**

Once they were done, Olivia showed James out and immediately texted her mom _ **: Thanks for the heads up that I had a fitting w James for TCA's!**_

A few seconds later, Miya replied: ** _OMG. I am so sorry. I must have forgotten to add that to the agenda. Did you reschedule? I'm calling you right now!"_**

Olivia rolled her eyes as she typed rather quickly: **_No. Got a dress and shoes. Talk tmw. Going to nap. ily._**

She listened and didn't call but she did reply: ** _Ok, love you. & again I'm so sorry sweetie.. it won't happen again. xo_**

Olivia knew the idea of napping was not an option anymore. The gym was calling her name.

* * *

Olivia's trainer was with another client so could not get in the gym with her and she refused to use her apartments gym because she liked the solitude of working out alone, so she went to the next best thing, Fitz's private gym.

"You can't keep up, baby?" Olivia asked as she hopped off of the elliptical.

Fitz rested his hands on his knees, they'd been in the gym for two hours and Olivia was working on his last nerve. "We've been at this for a while!"

She grabbed her water bottle as she jumped up and down "Wow, you sound like a bitch baby."

Fitz didn't understand where all of this was coming from. He had worked out with her once before and while she was very focused, she was not this intense. Something was off. "Babe, you're gonna over-do it. Can we just go hang? You leave for Italy on Monday and then New York the week after, so I won't see you for two weeks."

She walked behind him to grab the boxing gloves "I can't. I already slacked off for two weeks because of you."

"Sure. Blame me."

" _Come on Liv, live a little. Eat the burger!_ " She mocked him as she punched the bag.

He shook his head and sucked his teeth "First of all, horrible impersonation and two, I just wanted you to enjoy yourself, you're always so health conscious that you never live a little."

She paused her movements and glared at him "Please just leave me alone."

He held up his hands in surrender as he walked backwards towards the door "Fine"

 **xx**

Fitz didn't know what the hell her problem was. She was fine the night before and then all of a sudden, she's at his place working out like a maniac. He figured he would call Abby to see if she knew what was going on with her.

After a few rings she answered and he was relieved. _"Hey, Abb's."_

 _"_ _Hey, Fitz. What's up?"_

He rubbed his forehead _"Uh, well I just wanted to know if you maybe knew what was up with Liv?"_

 _"_ _We texted a little yesterday and she seemed fine. What happened? Are you guys fighting?"_

 _"_ _No… Yes.. I mean…"_ He sighed _"She came over and has been working out like a crazy person for two hours and she's been rude as hell"_

 _"_ _Damn it. Did she come from work or something?"_

Fitz rubbed his forehead _"She had a last minute fitting or something. What's that got to do wi—"_

Abby knew exactly what was up with her because she just so happened to be with her during that Paris fashion show and she had the same reaction then so it wasn't hard for her to put two and two together. _"Did she mention anything about the fitting?"_

 _"_ _No? She just went straight to the damn elliptical"_

She didn't think it was her place to share why she was acting that way, but she did want to give him some advice to help her avoid a serious injury. _"Listen, sometimes she gets like this when it comes to her weight, but it's not my place to tell you why or anything like that. She'll do that on her own."_

 _"_ _Okay. Well thanks, I'll try and get her to talk to me."_

 _"_ _Don't push too hard and Fitz, take care of her…"_

 _"_ _Always. Thanks Abb's."_

Fitz took a deep breath before he re-entered the gym room, he watched as she constantly punched and kicked the punching bag. She was dripping sweat and he knew she needed to stop. He walked in front of her, and held the other side of the punching bag. "Hey, are you almost done?"

She moved back, jumping up and down in place, slamming the boxing gloves together "Give me 30 more minutes. Okay?"

"You can finish in the morning"

"No, I can't. I have a Calvin Klein meeting in the morning, hence why I'm not even staying over. I just came to use the gym."

Her tone was harsh, making Fitz feel like she was annoyed with him. "Listen, if I upset you earlier I didn't mean to, I just don't—"

"Ugh, you win!" She said throwing off the gloves. "Happy?"

"No, because you won't tell me why you're acting so odd!"

She looked up at him "I came to work out. I don't have time to just hang out right now. I have a damn Vogue photoshoot next week and fashion week in September meaning in a few weeks with a lot of designers counting on me which means the gym is going to be my life for a month. So you need to get used to it."

He couldn't remember a time when he'd seen her this angry and obsessive. "Whatever, Liv."

She snatched her keys and water bottle off of the bench and walked out, leaving Fitz by himself feeling more confused than ever.

* * *

 **AN: Lemme know your thoughts! x**


	8. Chapter 8

Olivia stormed out of Fitz's house faster than a track star nearing the finish line. The frustration was real and she knew that if she didn't get out of there soon, she would blow a cap. He was tailing her as she quickly approached her car.

"So we're really doing this? Really, Liv?" He asked as he held onto the door as she hopped inside.

"Leave me alone, Fitzgerald!" She said pulling the door closed and reversing towards the automatic exit gate.

He watched as she drove out of his gate and his first instinct was to go after her. Out of habit, he tapped his sweatpants pockets in search for his keys and instantly remembered they were inside of his house. Once he found the keys to the G-Wagon he rushed inside and buckled up, but as soon as he went to turn on the ignition something stopped him. He thought to himself: _Will going over there even make a difference? She wouldn't even talk to me here…_

Throwing the keys at the dashboard, he ran his hands through his hair; he was actually beginning to get angry at her. He hadn't done shit and he felt he didn't deserve to be treated as though he did, so if she wanted to flip out on him for nothing then fine, but he wasn't going after her tonight.

He took a deep breath and made his way outside of the SUV and just as he went to the turn the front door handle, his phone notified him of an incoming text. It was Huck.

 ** _"yooo, are u alive? lol"_**

Fitz brushed his hand over his face, he wasn't in the mood to talk but he had already ignored his called the previous day so he replied: " ** _ya lol my bad for not calling u back.. been busy. whats up?"_**

 ** _"it's good bro I was just trying to let u know i was in town for the next week, lets link!"  
_**

Fitz immediately felt happy, he rarely got to see Huck since he moved to New York to be an in-house producer for a record label.

 ** _"best news today, ha. come over!"_**

 ** _"Dope, be there soon."_**

Thirty minutes later, they were hanging on the couch playing Call of duty.

Huck lounged on the couch "You still suck at this game huh"

Fitz sucked his teeth "Man please, you can't even aim your weapon at the damn zombies."

He laughed "Don't worry about my aim"

Fitz shook his head, careful not to take his eyes off of the screen "So how's New York been? That's my first stop on the tour"

"You know I'm gonna be there! And it's been good but my eyes have been open to a lot of the corrupt shit that the labels do to its artists"

Fitz paused the game and got more comfortable in his seat "Word?"

"Yeah, I overheard one of the exec's talking about how at this other label they had this girl-" Huck reached in his pocket, pulling out a lighter and a tin container "They didn't name her but apparently she thought her contract was signed to them directly but it was really this lower level production company that was tied to the label so she was basically like their slave, only signing a product deal to get a minor percentage of the album sales. They're so fucked up."

"They always try and scam new artists, it's ridiculous. Thank god we had my mom as our lawyer, we would've been screwed without her because none of us even understood the contracts at that time"

Huck lit the joint before he took a hit and laughed "It was like we were reading another language, all that legal talk to us 16 year olds didn't mean shit"

"Seriously. She saved us; we would've been so screwed without her." Noticing he was passing the joint to him, Fitz grabbed it and inhaled. "I think I'm done with labels after my contract ends with Appex"

"Word? How much longer do you have with them?"

"I signed a three year deal with 2 albums, so once I finish the next one, I think I'm out. Andrew gets on my damn nerves."

"He's stuck up his own ass, he can't find his way out"

"You're tellin' me." he chuckled

"So what mayhem do you wanna get into tonight?"

Fitz internally sighed, he really didn't want to go anywhere but he rarely saw Huck so he didn't want to disappoint him "Whatever you wanna do bro"

Just before he could answer, his phone was chiming that he had a call. He excused himself and Fitz took this time to go use the bathroom.

* * *

"Everything good?" Fitz asked as he came back out to the living room.

"All good. It was just Paul asking when I wanted to come in tomorrow to get more ink"

"Before you know it, you're gonna have a full sleeve" Fitz examined his friends arm, he had at least 7 tattoos on his right arm.

"That's the aim" He smiled "But I'm surprised you never got that cross you always said you wanted"

Fitz sipped his water "I just can't find an artist that I really trust to do it"

"Paul is the best in LA, man. He's the only person I go to."

"Mind if I go with you tomorrow to check it out?"

Huck kicked his feet up on the table "Not at all bro, I'm going at 10:30"

"Alright cool"

* * *

"Olivia had a meeting with Heather Jackson from Calvin Klein at their satellite office in LA. They had been talking for about 15 minutes already, and were going over last minute details for Olivia's photoshoot in New York.

"… I ran most of this information by Miya already but just so you know, you're going to be photographed by Annie Whales and with this being your first photoshoot as a _My Calvin's_ ambassador, we really want this photoshoot to be big. Since it is an underwear shoot, it will remain an exclusively closed set. Jake Ballard will join you for five frames but that is all. This is really all about you."

Olivia crossed her arms in front of her, "Sounds good. And we're looking for a mid-August release?"

"Yes ma'am, you're correct. Anything else you want to clarify?"

"Well this isn't a question, but I just wanted to tell you how much I love your curls! I've been wanting to say that since the meeting started" Olivia beamed, Heather was African American and her curly afro was very captivating.

"Wow, thanks!" She smiled. "That's really nice of you"

"You're welcome!" She said, standing up from her seat "I can't wait for the shoot."

"I'm just so excited you accepted the deal! To be honest, I've been a fan of yours for a while now so I knew I had to mention your name when it was time to find new faces for the campaign. I knew you'd be perfect for it."

Olivia smiled, "Oh, so I have you to thank for this? You rock."

"No worries, but I do have someone here that insisted on being here to say hi before you leave. Hopefully you don't hate surprises."

Olivia looked around, wondering who it was. She watched Heather dial a number on her phone, "Send him in"

And barely a second later, Jake Ballard was making his way inside of the double doors conference room. "Olivia Pope"

Olivia was surprised that he was there, she thought sure she wouldn't see him until their photoshoot. "Hey Jake, what are you doing here?"

He reached down to give her a brief hug before taking a seat next to her. "Heather mentioned that you were gonna stop by the offices today so I just wanted to come say hi"

"I'm so sorry but I need to take this" Heather said looking at her phone, while getting up from her seat "Olivia, you'll be okay for a minute or two?"

She waved her off, "Yeah, it's fine."

Jake took a seat on the edge of the table "So how's life?"

"Busy but good, how's everything with you? Do you still live out here? I haven't seen you at any events lately."

Jake grabbed one of the bottles of Fiji water on the table, "I was living with my girl Elise in Paris for 6 months, doing some work out there. But LA is still home."

Olivia knew of Elise but had never formally met her. "Ah I bet that was amazing, definitely one of my favorite places in the world."

"It was. I almost didn't want to come back" He laughed "I can't wait to go back soon"

"I know, me either… I'm excited to walk in their fashion week." Olivia grinned. Jake had always been a nice guy and they had even slept together once after her and Russell had broken up but she could just never see herself with him because of the lack of an emotional connection. Thankfully, both of them kept a pretty tight lip about it so the media had no idea.

"I'm actually heading to New York tonight for mens fashion week"

"That's right! It's like the pre-game for ours in September"

Jake rested his hand on his heart, pretending he was hurt "Damn, the shade"

"Sorry not sorry" She teased "But good luck, walking in a lot of shows?"

"Yeah I'm doing a couple, I'm even closing one so I'm excited"

"And to think last year you were a fetus model and now you're out here closing shows. I see you…"

He laughed "Better watch out, I might be taking your spot light soon"

She sucked her teeth "Never that"

Heather walked back in, "Hey Liv, I want to give you a tour of the building before you leave, if you'd like."

"Lets do it!" She smiled as she and Jake followed Heather out of the conference room.

* * *

Huck and Fitz had been at Pauls shop for nearly an hour. Huck was just finishing his tattoo; he went for a random zombie eyeball on his arm, along with the other ink he had.

Paul was getting a new set of tools for Fitz's tattoo, "So what are you getting done?"

Fitz sat at his station, waiting "I just want a black cross on the side of my left wrist."

"Ah, that'll be quick—" He said, as he prepared a cotton swab to clean Fitz's wrist "But just warning ya, it's gonna hurt since it's a sensitive spot"

Fitz leaned back in the chair and Huck sat on a stool next to him "My boys getting his first tat!" he tapped his shoulder

Paul signaled for Huck to distract Fitz from the pain as best he could. Huck pulled out his phone and began snap chatting it. "Fitz is getting his first tat! Everyone pray that he makes it through!" He zoomed in on Fitz's face with the dog filter, knowing that would make everyone laugh "This the only one you want or are you gonna get more?"

Fitz squinted a bit as Paul began the tattoo "Y-yeah, I'm not trying be like your ass" he teased

"You couldn't handle it anyway, you're already squinting" Huck laughed at his friend

Fitz flicked him off with his free hand, as he watched the needle scribble on his skin "Shutup"

Paul chuckled "You're all done, homie"

"Damn that was fast" He said, examining the tattoo "It's sick, thanks man!"

"I told you it would be and no problem"

After taking a few pictures of the tattoo, Fitz watched Hucks snapchat of him and couldn't stop laughing "send me this so I can post it on mine"

Once Huck sent him the footage, they thanked Paul and were on their way to the car

"You talk to Liv yet?"

Fitz was catching up on his snapchat story timeline as Huck drove "Not yet, but judging by her snap she's in a much better mood" he said in a sarcastic filled tone as he scanned her story that consisted of pictures of her with Heather and Jake at the Calvin Klein office. The next clip that popped up was of Jake standing next to Olivia with his hand on her shoulder with her saying: _"_ ** _I may or may not be working on a another project with this guy soon!"_**

Truthfully, it did piss him off that she seemed to be in such a giddy mood with them and didn't even have the decency to apologize for her behavior the night before. He went to his recent calls and dialed her number. She answered after a few rings.

 _"Hello?"_

 _"Are you home?"_

 _"Just got here, why?"_

 _"I'm out with Huck, can I stop by for a minute?"_

She sighed on the other end _"…Sure"_

 **xx**

Once she let him in, Fitz followed behind her to the kitchen, leaning against the countertop, he said "So you seem to be in a better mood."

"A little, but I'm tired. I didn't get much sleep last night"

"Well maybe if you didn't go so hard in the gym and—"

She looked over at him, her facial expression practically screaming how much she dared him to finish his sentence "Don't."

"So that's it, we're not gonna talk about it at all?"

She sighed, "That's the goal" moving around the kitchen organizing random things, trying to distract herself

He followed closely behind her, "Judging by snapchat, you seemed to have been in a great mood earlier."

She rolled her eyes and titled her head "Is that why you came over here? Because you're jealous? And what the hell do you care? You were out having a great time getting tatted up with your bestie." referring to the video he posted.

"No, I could care less about that! I am annoyed that you seemed overjoyed earlier with those randoms but you can't even treat your boy friend the same way! What is up with you?!"

"BECAUSE!" she spat

"Because WHAT?" he yelled back

"…Because I don't have to talk about it with them, it was a welcomed distraction." She sighed, taking a seat on a bar stool.

"Talk about what?" he asked, joining her.

"Heather and Jake can't tell when I'm faking a mood, they don't give a damn; it's strictly about the work… as it should be. But with you…"

He held out his hand for her to continue, and she did "It's just, with you.. you can see through all of that and even within just a few seconds of seeing me last night you knew something was up and that scares me. You know me so well and that's a blessing and a curse for me because it forces me to open up even when I don't want to."

He grabbed her hand "Liv, I just want to be here for you. I want to make whatever is wrong right. I hate seeing you like this; when you're not in a good place, it completely fucks with me, I can't think straight because I'm wondering what I need to be doing to help you through whatever it is that has you down."

"She sighed, pushing her bangs out of her face, trying to ignore the fact that a tear was welding in her eye "Before I came over yesterday I had a fitting with James, he wanted me try on a particular jumpsuit but the zipper wouldn't go all the way up. It's one thing when you're alone and something doesn't fit; but when it happens in front of someone…" She paused and took a deep breath "I felt so humiliated and it brought back all of these memories from a show I did in Paris when I was 18 and this lady that was assisting with styling all of the models told me that I needed to drop a few pounds, it was so humiliating. So it kind of felt like I was re-living that all over again and it angered me."

"Screw that lady! The amount of pressure they put on you all is ridiculous and unrealistic." Pulling himself back towards her, "You're stunning and gaining a pound here or there is a part of being human, Liv.. and if in the future you happen to find yourself in a similar situation, you have to go about this in a much safer way. You're no good to a client if you're burnt out from working out or worse, injured… I beg of you not to ever do that again; it was awful seeing you like that."

"But that's not it, it's like I'm even more annoyed with myself because you have people out there that wouldn't see this as a problem _because_ I'm a model, I almost feel guilty being unhappy with myself right now, like I don't have the right?" She huffed "Ugh, I don't even know if that makes sense… I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm trying to say."

He rubbed her shoulder up "I get it and your feelings are valid. But—" He paused, looking around the house.

"What?" She asked worriedly, she was so confused.

"Give me 2 minutes and then meet me upstairs in your closet." he said, running off and towards the stairs.

She watched him run off "Okay?"

 **xx**

True to his word, exactly two minutes later Olivia was walking into her walk-in closet to a quiet Fitz whom was standing near her mirror holding post-it notes. "Come here" he said holding out his free hand

Taking ahold of his hand, she made her way towards him. "What are you doing"

"I wrote some words of encouragement on these and I want you to read them and then place each one on the mirror"

She furrowed her eyebrows as she took them out of his hand and stood directly in front of him, facing the mirror "Uh, alright." Reading them one by one, she began: **"I am beautiful"**

He gave a small smile, holding onto both sides of her shoulders as they looked directly at their reflections "Go on"

 **"I am strong, I am enough"** She paused before reading the last one, giggling with tearful eyes **"I am sexy"**

Fitz held his hands up in surrender, "I couldn't resist, it's the truth. Read the last one"

 **"Progress is real, perfection is not."**

"Now, I know you are a confident woman, which is one of the main reasons I am attracted to you, but you are human and every once in a while, we all need a reminder… so, whenever you're feeling down, I want you to come in here and read these or you can just call me and I'll definitely remind you." he smirked, kissing the top of her head.

"Thank you babe" She turned around, snuggling into him in for a big embrace

"There's really no excuse for the way I treated you… I'm really sorry."

"Apology accepted, but I have one question… Bitch baby? Really?" He asked, referring to what she had called him when they were in the gym.

Embarrassed, she leaned forward to hide her face in his chest, muffling "Why do you love me? I'm crazy."

He brought his hand to his chin, pretending to ponder her question "You know, I was literally just asking myself the same question…"

Olivia looked up at him, pretending to feel insulted but fully grinning "I love you so much"

He wiped her face with his fingers and pecked her soft lips "I love you, too, baby."

She took a deep breath as she rested her forehead against his chin, looking down at his bandaged wrist "You never told me you wanted a tattoo."

"It was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing"

"Oh goodness, don't tell me you're going to turn into Huck" Admittedly so, Olivia wasn't the biggest fan of tattoo's.

He pulled the bandage up slightly so she could take a peek "Relax, it's a tiny one."

"I actually like it"

"Really? Well then that means I need to get a few more done…" He grinned

She looked up at him and lightly pushed him away "I'm not even about to play with you."

* * *

After hours of flying, Olivia finally arrived in Milan for her Vogue Italia photoshoot. Since she wasn't the only person Miya managed, she could not go with her to Milan due to conflicting schedules with another client. Knowing this, Eli dropped several hints that he wanted to join Olivia and though their relationship was still a little rocky, Olivia caved and invited him to tag along. They landed rather late, but they were all pretty starved so they decided to go eat at one of Eli's favorite restaurants Armani Nobu.

Having somewhat grown accustomed to the random camera flashes and stares he received whenever he was out and about with his daughter, being surrounded by Hal and two extra body guards close by whilst at dinner, had become the norm.

"Do you know what you're gonna get?" Eli asked as he scanned the menu.

"I don't even know, I'm just hoping I don't fall asleep before the food arrives." She yawned

He smiled "This is why I told you to fully rest on the plane love-bug"

"Now, you know your daughter doesn't fully sleep on planes, NOPE! Need to be alert" she said, referring to herself in third person

Eli chuckled, holding his tongue as the waitress approached their table "Hi, my name is Lizzie and I'll be taking care of you guys tonight, would you like to start off with something to drink or do you know what you want?"

"I'll take a glass of lemonade the spicy sour shrimp and Edamame; my daughter will have a—" He paused, signaling for Liv to take over

"I'll just have a water and the same dish, thanks"

"No problem, I'll be back"

Olivia sat up in her seat and glanced around the restaurant, "It's not as busy as I thought it would be"

"Well, it is a Monday"

"True, true" she laughed

"You know, I can't wait to see you in action at the photoshoot, it's been a while since I've been able to see you work"

"I'm excited too, it's a huge honor to even be gracing this cover."

"It's crazy to think back to when you were in elementary school and would always put on these little fashion shows all throughout the house; the music and all" he chuckled, "and to look at you now, I'm so proud of you."

The flashback made Olivia laugh a bit, too "I guess I was onto something, huh?"

Eli held his hands out "Clearly"

"I miss those days, life was so easy. I didn't even know how good I had it"

"You're living the good life now, too, so many people would love to trade lives with you"

"I mean I am—" Olivia began, waiting as she saw Lizzie approaching the table with their drinks.

"Water and a lemonade."

Lizzie's American accent didn't go unnoticed and Eli just _had_ to ask her about it. "Your accent… you're one of us, ay?"

Lizzie laughed "Yes, I'm from Virginia, I've been studying abroad over here since January."

"Oh wow, that sounds exciting!"

"You'll have to excuse my nosey father"

Lizzie waved it off "No, no, I don't mind. You're my sisters favorite model so when I tell her I got to serve you all, she's going to freak"

Olivia placed her hand over her heart "Aw, well I can take a video for her if you'd like?"

"No, I don't want to bother you" She began to back away

"You're not, come on"

Olivia stood up next to Lizzie and Eli recorded the two of them "Hey Ashley, I'm here in Milan and happened to bump into your sister here at work and she tells me that you're a fan of my work so I wanted to say thank you for your support; I really appreciate it! Take care!"

"Oh my god, she's going to flip! Thanks so much!"

Olivia laughed "No problem at all."

"Well I'm gonna go put your order in so you can eat before Christmas" she teased and excused herself

"She's a sweetheart."

"Finish what you were saying earlier"

"Uh, wait what was I…" she tried finding her trace of thought "Oh! Yeah, I love my life I'm just beginning to feel a little overwhelmed with everything, there's just so much going on and I don't want to miss the moment, if that makes sense"

Concerned, Eli asked "Have you talked to mom about it?"

"I don't really know how to… I love working I just wish things weren't so jam-packed for a little."

"Your phones vibrating"

Olivia held up her phone so he could see that it was Miya calling her "I swear she has eyes and ears everywhere"

Eli chuckled a bit, telling her to answer it.

 _"Hey mom, it's super late over there, why aren't you asleep?"_

 _"I'm up checking emails and I couldn't sleep until I knew you guys made it safely."_

 _"We did. We're just grabbing a bite to eat then we're going to the hotel"_

 _"Great. Well, I wanted to run some news by you… how do you feel about a Women's Health Magazine late-October shoot?"_

 _"That's random, why me?"_

 _"They saw the videos your trainer posts of you online sometimes, I guess they like what they see"_

 _"Well that's nice, and you said late October?"_

 _"Yes, more details to come. But it will be in California, so no big traveling."_

 _"Okay, I'm in."_

 _"Perfect. Well, you guys enjoy your dinner and text me when you make it in, I'll check in tomorrow. I love you."_

 _"I love, you, too."_

Olivia threw phone in her purse "Prime example"

Eli reached across the table and rubbed her arm "Keep your head up"

* * *

 _"The irony of Women's Health wanting you on their cover… I told you that your body rocks."_ Fitz said on the other line as he and Olivia talked on the phone

Cuddled up in the bed, yawning, she answered _"I know, but enough about me, are you excited for Ellen tomorrow?"_

 _"Yeah, I haven't been on her show in forever, I'm super stoked."_

 _"You need to go bed, it's super late there"_

 _"I am… but I miss you already"_

 _"How are you gonna last two weeks?"_

"I don't even know, I've gotten so used to you sleeping over that I barely sleep when you're not here."

That made her melt _"this is torture."_

 _"your sleepy voice is so sexy"_

She pushed her face into her pillow, _"Stoppppp!"_

He laughed on the other end _"Well, it is."_

 _"ANYWAY"_ she purposefully emphasized, not wanting to get worked up when he was miles away.

His laughter subsided as he tried to work up the nerve to bring something up that he'd been pondering _"Babe remember when you asked if I was jealous of you being around Jake?"_

Sensing his change in moods, she turned on her back, facing the ceiling _"Yeah?"_

 _"Well, I kind of lied. I was a little."_

She was a little quiet for a second, contemplating if she should tell him about them, _"So I've never asked you to tell me about every girl you've ever slept with, right?"_

 _"Well, no.. but what does that..."_

 _"Exactly, but out of respect for you since I'm going to be working with Jake..."_ she paused _"A few months after Russell and I broke up, he and I slept together."_

 _"Well I appreciate you telling me, even though you didn't have to"_

 _"Are you mad?"_

 _"No, you had a life before **us**. I can't be mad at you for that. You're with me now and that's...that."_

 _She let out the air she had subconsciously been holding in "I love you..."_

 _"I love you, too. Get some rest."_

* * *

Though Fitz had been doing tons of phone, radio and magazine interviews, he had yet to do a television interview for the album, so when the opportunity presented itself, he knew he would be crazy not to accept Ellen Degeneres' offer to come on her show. He had been a guest a few times with Faze 3 but this was obviously going to be a new experience since he would be alone. They were filming the show earlier than the official album release since Ellen pre-taped a lot of her shows. Fitz was waiting backstage watching the monitors as he waited for his cue to go out to the stage.

"Our next guest got his start as one third of the award winning group, Faze 3, but has since stepped out on his own and is here to discuss his first solo album. Please welcome, Fitz Grant!"

The clean version of Pillowtalk started playing in the background as Fitz made his way towards Ellen whom was dancing and after giving her a hug he joined her which made the audience go even crazier. He was wearing a blue navy crew neck shirt with black stripes, ripped-knee skinny jeans and blue converse.

After they both were seated Ellen said "It's been a while. Welcome back."

The audience once again cheered which made Fitz smile "It's great to be here. I've missed you."

"People usually do." She teased "I've missed you, too! But during the commercial break one of my producers told me that you got like 10 pairs of the ellen underwear"

"Yeah and I'm even wearing a pair right now. I gotta represent." He said as he pulled his shirt up so he could show off the edge of the underwear that had her name on it.

Ellen laughed at how the audience was swooning over him, "Sorry people, he's taken." A paparazzi picture of Fitz and Olivia holding hands whilst out and about was plastered across the screen behind them. "I think y'all make a great couple and I love Olivia, she's one of the sweetest guests I've ever had on the show."

"You don't love her more than you love me though, right?"

Ellen looked into the camera and everywhere else, avoiding eye contact with Fitz.

The audience erupted into laughter and Fitz pretended to be mad "Wow, not cool."

Ellen tapped his leg "No, no, I'm kidding. I love you both equally."

He looked at the audience, shaking his head as if he didn't believe her. "We'll pretend that's true."

She grinned "Listen I wanna talk about your new album…" she grabbed the CD off of the table next to her. "… Thanks for sending me an advanced copy; Portia and I listened to it all night and it's amazing."

Fitz held his hands together, physically thanking her. "That means a lot coming from you. Thank you so much."

"And it's a little dirty" She teased and suddenly a clip of himself and Olivia holding each other and kissing in the pillow talk video was on the screen. The crowd started whistling and cheering which caused Fitz to turn and see what was on the screen. He tried to shield his face so they couldn't see him blushing.

"Sorry mom" Fitz looks to his mom, Lisa, whom is in the audience. He invited her to come since he knew she was a big fan of Ellen's. The camera zoomed in on her and she held the sides of her face as if she was shy. You would think that after years of her son being in the spotlight that she would be used to the attention whenever she went somewhere with him, but it still wasn't something she was loved.

"Sorry mom" Ellen mocks, which makes everyone laugh. "So I'm not gonna pry too much, because I know a lot of people probably ask and I mean, even the guys in the audience went crazy and they're usually the sane one's whenever we put someone up on the screen… how does that make you feel knowing your girl friend is a lot of guys' dream girl?"

Fitz exaggeratedly scanned the audience for the guys Ellen was referring to which made everyone laugh. But almost immediately, he mentally reverted back to his conversation from the night before with Olivia about Jake. "You know, she's a very attractive woman so I wouldn't expect anything less; and honestly, I'm human so it can get a _little_ annoying sometimes but knowing that she could choose any guy in the world but she chose to be with me, makes it that much better."

This made the audience gush and even Ellen had a similar reaction "Only you would be able to turn that around like that."

He confidently smiled and Ellen shook her head "So what inspired you to come back to the industry after 3 years? Because a lot of people thought you were done."

He pushed his curls back "To be honest I thought I was done, too. After being in a group since I was a teenager and then getting to a place where we all knew it was coming to an end, it was kind of difficult for me because I felt like I'd been so wrapped up in what other people wanted us to sound and dress like, that I'd kind of lost who I was as an individual. So I needed that time to regroup and find out what I really wanted and I discovered that I really missed the music. I missed creating something out of nothing and to be able to come back and have all of this support means the world to me."

Everyone applauded him and Ellen joined in "Well we're all happy that you're back and I'm very proud of you." She looked toward the camera "We're gonna take a break and when we come back Fitz is gonna perform for us."

* * *

 **Thoughts? I like reading your comments. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Once they were back from commercial break, the studio was dimly lit as Ellen stood in front of the camera waiting to introduce Fitz "Here to perform 'Rear View' off of his new album _Mind of Mine;_ Ladies and Gents… Fitz Grant!"

The camera focused on Fitz and the band behind him, as he clutched the mic stand and tapped his foot to the music.

 ** _Can your heart be mine in search_**

 ** _'Cause I have no time to help you find_**

 ** _All the words_**

 ** _Melodies and memories_**

 ** _Stories that sound absurd_**

 ** _I will tell no lies_**

 ** _As long as you look me in the eyes_**

 ** _I'll go wherever you are_**

 ** _I'll follow behind (oh oh oh)_**

 ** _Heard about all the things you done_**

 ** _And all the walls you've been in_**

 ** _Heard about all the love you lost_**

 ** _It was over before it began_**

 ** _Heard about all the miles you've gone_**

 ** _Just to start again_**

 ** _Heard about all the things you've been through_**

 ** _It sounds like you need a friend, a friend._**

The audience roared with applause as the song came to a close, and Fitz felt a sigh of relief. He pointed to the musicians behind him, wanting to give them credit they all deserved.

The audience's vibes had him on cloud nine and he was so engulfed in it until Ellen walked over. "Wasn't that amazing?!" she smiled and divided her attention between Fitz and the audience."Okay so, remember when you guys came in and we had you all pick numbers? Well, pull those out and Fitz is gonna pick two out of this machine and announce the winners" She pointed towards one of her production assistants whom was pushing a jumbo globe machine that had the number balls being thrown around onto the stage.

Fitz reached inside and chose two numbers. "Looks like the winners are numbers 21 and 8!"

Two ladies from the audience shot up out of their seats and ran towards the stage, one was a brunette, that looked like she was in her 20's and the other was a red head that looked between 16 and 18.

Once they both made their way to the stage, Fitz gave them both a hug and Ellen asked them both to briefly introduce themselves.

"My names Alyssa and I'm a nurse" The red head smiled, clearly trying to contain her excitement as best as she could.

The brunette joined in "I'm Bailey, and I'm a Junior in High School."

Ellen was having a hard time composing her laughter as the girls spazzed out in front of Fitz. "Well, Fitz, go ahead and tell them what they've won!"

"Okay, so, Alyssa and Bailey, I'm going on tour this fall and I would love it if you both would take these VIP passes" he said, grabbing them out of his back pocket "And come to my LA concert."

Both of the girls started jumping up and down, which of course made Fitz smile.

Ellen rubbed her chin "I don't know, I kind of feel bad about leaving the rest of these guys out" she pointed towards the studio audience

Fitz frowned "Yeah, you're right, that's why I brought a pair of tickets for everybody!"

The sea of people erupted into screams of pure happiness. Ellen had to get closer to the camera to sign off. "I want to thank all of my amazing guests for stopping by and of course my incredible studio audience. Have a nice day and remember to be kind to one another, bye-bye!"

* * *

Once the show was over, Fitz's newly hired body guards Adam and Sage escorted him and Lisa out to the black GMC Yukon SUV that was awaiting them in the back of the studio lot.

As Sage held the door open for her, she began "I'm so relieved that she didn't ask you anything about the club incident, I was a little nervous."

"I made sure that Carlie told the producers I didn't want to talk about anything pertaining to that evening." Carlie Gomez was Fitz's publicist.

Lisa grabbed her seatbelt "Good. It was a great interview. I'm very proud of you."

Fitz reached across the seat and kissed his moms cheek "Thanks, Mom. It meant a lot having you out there in the audience, it felt like old times. Thanks for clearing your schedule."

"You're always more important than a client, you know that." She gushed, rubbing his cheek. "Also, me, miss the opportunity to meet Ellen again? No way, Jose!"

He laughed, his mom could be so corny, but his smile quickly faded when he thought of Olivia missing his first performance "I wish Liv was there to see it," he frowned

She gave a small smile, rubbing his shoulder "I know you do, but she'll see it when it airs next week."

He nodded, grabbing his phone out of his pocket. He saw that he had a few missed text messages and calls but what caught his attention first was a notification that Olivia had posted something on Instagram as he set it up to where his phone notified him whenever she posted a picture; he hoped it didn't come off creepy, he just liked being one of the first to see pictures she posted. "Damn" he said.

Lisa looked over at him, a bit puzzled "What?"

He passed her the phone so that she could see what caused his reaction. It was Olivia's InStyle Magazine cover that she had done back in May. She was dawning a multi colored Dior summer dress, her hair was parted down the middle with messy beach waves as she posed, giving a subtle smirk as if she were staring into the soul of whomever was holding the magazine. Off right-center of the cover read: **_"This modern beauty continues to change the game: Olivia Pope"_**

"Wow… she looks so beautiful!" Lisa beamed. "She sent it to you?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked my messages yet. That's instagram though, don't you see the caption?"

She rolled her eyes "You know I don't know shit about this social media stuff. I stay clear of it!"

Fitz bursted into a fit of laughter, his mom rarely cursed but whenever she did, it never ceased to make him laugh.

He liked the photo before opening an unread text she had sent while he was at the show, it read: **_"Got my instyle cover and photos this morning! :D posted it on IG. Thoughts?"_**

He responded: **_"sorry for the late reply :( Just finished the show. & I just saw ur post, you look breathtaking babe, but what else is new ;) Can I repost it? Are you still at the shoot?"_**

Olivia replied within a few seconds: **_"Haha aw, thank you baby :') and yeah, go ahead. I can't wait to hear how it went! But yeah I'm still here, it's looking like it's gonna be a long one. I'm getting my makeup retouched. GTG. love you big head ;)"_**

Fitz chuckled at the nickname and gave a short response as he didn't want to distract her at work and quickly reposted the picture to his own account, captioning it: _"so proud of this beauty, she never ceases to amaze me. #mine"_

He looked over at Lisa whom was in a slight trance as she watched the cars pass outside of the window. It was rare that they had days where it was just the two of them so he wanted to make sure they had a fun day together. "What do you say we go grab a bite to eat and then we can do whatever you want, my treat."

"Shopping?" she grinned

There were two people that Fitz hated shopping with, her and Olivia… only because they both seemed to stay in one store for what seemed like days. But he loved them both so much that he didn't mind suffering every now and again "Shopping it is."

* * *

After a few hours of shopping around, Fitz and Lisa made their way out of Barneys in Beverly Hills.

"I think I've done enough damage for today." Lisa grinned.

"You think?" Fitz teased, holding 4 of her bags. "I'm gonna head back to Newport with you, spend some time at the house for a little."

"Don't you have Quinn's movie premiere tonight?"

"Yes, don't worry, I'll make it back in time."

"Okay, it'll be nice having you home, even for a little while."

Seeing his mom happy never failed to elevate his mood "I'll have Sage and Adam drop us off at my house so I can get my car and I'll drive us down."

 **xx**

"Where's dad and John?" He asked as they walked inside of the house.

"Your father should be home within the next hour or so and John's out with friends, enjoying his last summer before college." She said as she opened the refrigerator "Want to help me get started on an early dinner? It's your fathers turn to cook but since you're visiting, I'll spare you."

Fitz opened the window blinds, so they could see outside "Still that bad, huh?"

"He's…. improved" she laughed "but John and I still keep the local pizza shop on speed dial."

"Well I'm glad I don't have to endure it tonight." Fitz giggled as he looked out the window to the front yard, he noticed his brother pulling up in his silver Jeep Wrangler "Looks like John just pulled up"

"Great, go surprise him!" She smiled, she loved seeing her boys together. It always warmed her heart.

He scurried out the door, wanting to scare his little brother. He saw John turned around as if he were looking for something on the back seat; it was as if the universe was signaling the perfect opportunity to put his evil plan into motion.

He stood by the door waiting for John to turn around and once he did, Fitz yelled at the top of his lungs, causing his brother to nearly jump out of his seat completely. Clutching his chest, he yelled. "DUDE, WHAT THE HELL?!"

Fitz held his stomach, unable to control his laughter "You should've seen your face! Holy crap"

John laughed, pushing his door open, wanting to purposefully hit him with it. "You're such a douche." He shoved his shoulder before embracing him, "What're you doing down here?"

Seeing a tripod and camera bag on the passenger seat kind of threw Fitz off as he never knew his brother was into photography, "Just came to hang out for a bit. Mom told me you were hanging with friends."

John followed his gaze, immediately trying to subtly place his body in front of Fitz's eye view "No, no. I mean, I was but I had to drop Jessica off and Brett had to go pick up his sister from daycare so I'm free now."

He didn't understand why he was being so cautious but he figured he'd probably talk more about whatever it was if they were doing something else, too, "Lets skate"

"You sure, old man? 5 bucks says you bust your ass within the first five minutes." John sucked his teeth

Anytime they were together, everything turned into a friendly competition. "And I thought I was the ultimate shit-talker." Fitz said as he shoved his brother so he could get a head-start towards the backyard where their old skateboarding ramp was.

 **xx**

They'd been skating for some time and Fitz was getting frustrated at the fact that he couldn't land a kickflip. It was the first trick he had ever learned when he began skating as a hobby when he was 10 and now he was struggling.

"Somebody is rusty" John laughed, showing off in the process and he skated up and down the ramp.

"Screw off, it's been a minute, but I'm gonna get it"

"Dude, it's been 40 minutes!"

"Ah-ha!" Fitz rejoiced as he finally landed the trick. "Would you look at that, I've still got it!"

"40 minutes? You mean to tell me that I spent 2 weeks building all of this for you, just for you to lose all of your basic skills?" Gerry chimed in, startling them as they didn't know he had made it home yet.

"This is why mom's my favorite." Fitz teased, giving his dad a hug.

"Good to see you, too, bud." Gerry chuckled "Why don't you guys go wash up? Your moms cooked up something and it smells great."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" He hurried, tripping over the skateboard in the process.

John huffed, "Pay up"

"Sike, you said IF I busted my butt within the first 5 minutes." He scoffed

Gerry placed his arms across both of his sons broad shoulders and the three of them walked towards the house "Some things never change"

* * *

It was nearing 8pm in Italy and Olivia had been on set for hours. Her back was very sore due to mother natures abrupt return. It sucked having to work when she was on her menstrual but what was she going to do? As per usual under these types of circumstances, she smiled through the pain. The photographer, Luca Romano was showing Olivia some of the earlier frames on the computer. His accent wasn't too heavy so thankfully she could understand most words somewhat clearly. He pointed towards one of the photos where she was sitting kind of slouched over, with her legs a part in a stripped sweater shirt with white pants, with her left thumb brushing across her bottom lip. "This is a very playful look, I love it. But now for this look I—" he said referring to her newly changed look for the what would be the actual cover photo. Since this would be for the September magazine, they went for a fall look as she was dressed in a thin navy blue turtle neck tucked into a burgundy high wasted skirt with brown rusted, lined buttons. She was shoeless for this part as it would only show the top and mid section of her body. Her hair was up in a high bun and her baby hairs were dramatically floating off of the sides of her head. "… I want captivating eyes. I need you to go to a more vulnerable headspace so we can get that emotion in the pictures. Do whatever you have to do but we need that perfect shot."

"Got it" She assured. Even with all of the years of experience under her belt, to say she had become accustomed to being automatically 100% vulnerable in front of the camera, would be a lie. But with practice, she'd gotten to a place where she did what she had to do to make her photos reflect such emotion. She stood there waiting as the makeup artist, Joe fixed any last minute touch ups on her dark eye makeup which was purposefully done to give her eyes a dramatic look. All the while Robin, her hairstylist for the shoot fixed any fly-aways.

Noticing she had a minute alone, Eli made his way over "You're doing so well, Liv!"

"I'm glad it comes off that way because mother nature is kicking my butt."

"Anything I could get you? Water?"

"Dad, you're more than welcome to go walk around the city and explore a bit, Hal has to stay with me but I'll send Max with you."

"I'm fine, just want to make sure that you are, too."

Instantly regretting sharing that she didn't feel well to her father, "I don't want you to get bored because I have a feeling this shoots gonna run long." She wasn't used to having her father there, and it was kind of awkward. She didn't want him babying her in front of everyone simply because she didn't want people to think she was needy, or worse… a diva. She had a reputation to obtain.

"Are you kidding? I'm in complete awe watching you Liv. I rarely get to come with you, I'm enjoying myself. Besides, I brought my laptop and a few books."

"Suit yourself" She shrugged signaling for Robin to come back over.

Robin finished the last bit of retouches and brushed her shoulders off, letting her know she was all set. "All done baby girl"

Over the years Robin had done Olivia's hair whenever her schedule would allow her to travel since she owned a salon in New York.

"Thanks. Well, I'm gonna head back." She excused herself, running back over to Luca so she could ask him a few questions.

Eli began working on his laptop, when Robin pulled up a seat next to him. "Aside from Miya, I can definitely see why Liv has such a strong work ethic." she said, referring to his laptop, assuming he was doing work.

He laughed, pulling the top of his Macbook Air halfway down "Guilty"

She sipped her coffee "You guys raised a great one"

Eli shook his head as he watched Olivia a few feet away, "Yeah, she's my pride and joy. Do you have kids?"

"Just one, my daughter Hazel, she's 9" She showed him a picture on her phone "she admires Liv so much. She's only recently started bugging me about getting into modeling and if I'm being honest, it's making me nervous"

"Yeah, Liv mentioned modeling when she was around 11 and we only let her do shoots on the weekends, and then she went full time when she hit 18. My advice would be to maybe let her try it once and see if she actually enjoys it or if it's just a phase, you know? Then go from there."

"Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be too bad. Test the waters a bit without firm commitment."

"Exactly" He nodded "9 though? Whew, I'd give anything to have those years back. Before you know it, they're fully functioning adults that don't even want you to fetch them water."

Robin lightly chuckled "Uh, oh. I guess I better really enjoy these years, huh?"

"Definitely"

"Yes! Hold that pose!" Luca yelled from behind the camera as he kneeled in front of Olivia to get a solid shot.

Eli watched as the fan blew directly on Olivia "You did a great job with her hair."

"Thank you! She makes my job so easy, I wish I got to work with her more often."

* * *

After wrapping up the photoshoot, Olivia treated her father Robin and a few others from the photoshoot to dinner and drinks at one of the hotels restaurants, but after mingling for a while she just wanted to retire for the evening as it was nearing 2am. She excused herself from the group and went up to the suite; after a much needed mini pampering session, she pulled out her phone, hoping that Abby wasn't too busy in New York, which was where she was at for the week, as she was participating in one of the Mens Fashion week cross-gendered shows.

Abby answered her FaceTime call rather quickly _"Hey, doll"_

Olivia smiled at her best friends clay covered face, she was dawning a green face mask _"Isn't it a little early there for a face mask?"_

Abby playfully rolled her eyes _"I'm just prepping for this cocktail party I'm going to later. How was the shoot? Tell me everything!"_

She turned on her back, facing the ceiling _"Well, Luca was just as nice as you said he'd be,"_

 _"Mhmm, told you."_

 _"I think we got some great photos but I didn't feel like myself at the shoot today, I was in such an odd mood."_

 _"Why? Did something happen?"_

 _"I don't know, I think it may be because of my dad… You know how he came with, right?"_ She looked at Abby nod _"Well it was bittersweet having him on set, at times I would be internally happy that he was there and then it was like a switch went off and I just wanted to yell at him."_

 _"Liv, you're obviously still mad at him"_

 _"Then why did I agree to him coming?" She groaned_

 _"Because you love him, hun… he screwed up horribly and you're still working through the motions of forgiving him and that's completely fine."_

Olivia rubbed her forehead _"We went to dinner last night and it was great to talk to him and not be on our phones, just us two hanging and I even opened up to him about some stuff and I feel guilty like I'm supposed to be mad at him constantly."_

 _"There isn't a timeline for these types of things. You're probably gonna have a lot of these different feelings about your dad until you've completely forgiven him and with time, you will. Don't be so hard on yourself."_

 _"Thanks for hearing me out, I don't know what I'd do without you."_

 _"Always here for you, you know that"_

 _"I hate that we're missing Quinn's premiere…"_

 _"I knoooow, I sent her the flowers from us,"_

 _"I hope she likes them. Fitz texted me saying that he's taking John with him."_

 _"Oh that's nice of him—"_

Olivia heard a knock at the door, knowing it was probably her dad, he began speaking _"Liv, I'm gonna head to bed"_

 _"Alright"_ she answered, muting the FaceTime just in case.

 _"Okay, good night and again I'm so proud of you. Love you."_

A small smile formed on her face _"Thanks, dad, love you, too."_

Once she heard his footsteps get further away she resumed the call _"Sorry, that was my dad. So tell me about the show you're doing tomorrow?"_

 **xx**

Eli returned to his room, contemplating if he should wait until the next day to call her or just talk to her now... he went with the latter.

 _"Hello?" She answered after the first ring._

 _"Catch you at a bad time?"_

Miya had the phone in her lap as she drove _"No, I'm just driving back from downtown, how'd everything go today?"_

He watched his wife from the odd angle the phone was placed _"Very well, although Liv seemed a little off today. She wasn't feeling too well, girl stuff…"_

 _"Oh, well did she do well with the photographer? Was everyone respectful?"_

 _"Yes, he was very nice, and from my understanding they got everything they needed plus more, she definitely smiled through the pain."_

 _"That's my baby"_

 _He poured himself a glass of wine and sat on the arm of the couch, sighing "Do you think that's healthy though?"_

 _"Eli, at a regular 9-5 job, Olivia would still have to go to work regardless of the fact that it was that 'time of the month' or not, so I don't understand why you are even questioning-"_ _She quickly looked down at her phone, then back up at the road_

 _"Because she just seems a little overwhelmed, Miya, and you don't even notice."_ his tone was stern

 _"Don't you even dare try to tell me what I do and don't realize. You accompany her to ONE photoshoot for the first time in I don't even know how long, and now you're an expert on everything?"_

 _"That is not what I said. I just think that maybe you should leave her some space to take a break sometime soon. She's been working since she was 11!"_

 _"I know how to manage our daughters time. I can't believe you would even think to question that."_

 _"You know what, I can't even talk to you right now. Everything I say, you twist it!"_ He rubbed his mustache

 _"How about we just talk tomorrow? I'm trying to get home and there's a lot of traffic right now and I just don't want to argue with you tonight. Okay?"_

 _"Alright. Drive safe… Love you."_

She held the phone up a little _"Goodbye"_

* * *

After dinner, John had to do the dishes and Fitz decided to help him out.

Grabbing a dish, Fitz began "So what's up with you? How summer been so far? Have a girl or a lil' fling?"

John grinned, "Summers been chill, dad makes me go to the office with him sometimes… for some experience or whatever and I've just been kicking it with friends. I like Jess a little, but she's gonna be going to Yale so I don't even wanna.. you know"

"I guess. But if you really like her the distance thing could possibly be worth it."

"In college? Yeah, right." He laughed

John's laugh always made Fitz crack up, "Welp, seeing as though I didn't go to college…."

"Yeah, it's cool though, I can't wait to see the girls at stanford, whew!"

"Word, just be careful."

"I know, dad" he teased

Fitz playfully rolled his eyes, their age difference really showed at times like these when he had to lecture him about sex and things, but he just wanted to be a good big brother. Trying not to get too preachy on him, he decided to change the subject "So, when did you get into photography?"

John sighed, clearly knowing he'd been unsuccessful at hiding his things earlier "Maybe like a year or two ago"

"Why are you all secretive about it?"

John turned the water off "I'm just not that secure in it yet, I don't know.. I just didn't wanna let anyone really know about it until I get really good."

"You're always so hard on yourself dude, I bet your pictures are dope"

He rubbed his chin as if he were contemplating deeply, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and passed it to Fitz "These are some of the pictures I took today at the beach."

He wiped his hands with a towel then proceeded to swipe through the pictures, after a minute he said "John, these are _really_ good."

"Okay" he brushed it off

"No, I'm serious, you're talented, bro. You really should be showing off your work."

"I don't know, I probably won't even have time for this once I'm at Stanford."

Fitz held up his hand "Just answer this one question, do you feel absolutely happy and at peace when it's just you and your camera?"

"I do."

"And do you feel that same exact way when you're at the office with dad?"

John raised an eyebrow "I don't know, I like engineering, I've always loved working with my hands and dad expects—"

"Stop"

"What?"

"I didn't ask you anything about dad, John. This is about YOU. Now, I'm only questioning you because I give a damn, you're my little brother and I want you to be happy with whatever you choose to pursue in life. I'm not telling you to kick engineering to the side or vice versa, I'm just saying that you should consider what you really love and go for it. Whether that's going to Stanford for a semester and seeing if you like it and hey, if it works out then go for it, but don't just push your photography to the side like it's nothing if it's something you really care about."

He took a seat at the counter, rubbing his knuckles "How'd you know you music was for you?"

Fitz leaned across the counter, his elbows holding his upper body up "When I felt like singing in the shower wasn't enough" he laughed "Remember when I told you that story about how I sang karaoke at Bryce's house when I was 11? Well, I was singing _A lovely day_ in front of his family and they were cheering me on and I just felt this rush of energy I'd never felt before, it was brilliant and mom eventually told me that Bryce's mom suggested to her that I be enrolled in a performing arts school and the rest is history."

"Well, I'm really not sure which one i want to pursue more right now"

"That's fine, I just say to keep your options open and if you want to do both, that's fine BUT if you get to a place where one of the two aren't making you happy anymore, don't just stick to it just because or to make other people happy, it's your life and you only get one."

John held his hand out to shake Fitz's "Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Truly."

"No worries, I'm always here for you." He shook his hand when a thought came to mind "Hey, you have plans for tonight?"

"I was just gonna probably chill here, why?"

"Quinn's movie premiere for ' _Divergent'_ is later tonight, wanna be my plus one?"

"Dude, hell yeah! I read all of the books" he beamed, although he wasn't a fan of being in the spotlight, he wasn't going to turn down a night of fun with his brother. "Wait, I don't have anything to wear"

"I've got you, I have extra stuff at my house."

John was so ecstatic "this is gonna be sick"

 **xx**

John ended up following him back to LA in his own car. Pulling into the gate at Fitz's house, John hopped out of his car and walked up next to the Aston Martin that was parked further away.

"When are you finally gonna let me take that beauty for a spin?"

Fitz pulled off his sunglasses "When hell freezes over"

"Psh, I see how it is."

"Come on, so you can choose something for the event." He opened the front door "I have a bunch of outfits that were sent to me, you can choose whatever."

John followed Fitz into his closet "What're you wearing?"

"I'm wearing the blue Armani suit" he pointed towards it on the rack.

"I like this" he eyed the black and grey Gucci checkered blazer and black straight-legged slacks. "This would look dope with the black chelsea boots I brought from home"

"Good eye, just try it on"

 **xx**

Fitz and John were both ready to go, but they were awaiting the car to take them to the premiere. To pass the time, John was checking himself out in the mirror.

"Douche status" Fitz teased as he began checking his outfit out

"Says the guy now checking himself out."

John unabashedly took a picture of the two in the mirror and then they were headed out the door for the evening.

Upon arrival, Fitz was welcomed by screaming fans as he exited the SUV. John tried to refrain from turning red as he followed his brothers lead.

"You good?" Fitz asked,

"Yeah, but don't you have to do the red carpet?"

"Just briefly, gonna talk to some of the news outlets, bullshit around a bit. I'll meet you inside in a bit."

With that john made his way inside of the theater and Fitz scurried towards some of the fans to quickly greet them and then he made his first stop for pictures and interviews.

"Fitz! Fitz!" Nicole from Hollywood Now! was trying to get his attention as he walked a few feet passed her stand.

Fitz apologetically stopped in his tracks, "Hey, how're you?"

Nicole beamed, "I'm great, Are you excited for the film?"

"So excited, I love action packed movies like this and being able to come and support Quinn is wonderful. I always tell her she's like the little sister I never had, though she's nearly a year older than me"

She snickered, pulling the mic back to herself "That's amazing, you know, we talked about your new album on the show the other day. We're chomping at the bit for next Friday"

"Oh, thanks! It's right around the corner, I'm just so hyped for everyone to finally hear it. I'm ready for it to be out into the world; ultimately hoping it makes people feel good... hopefully a bit of a distraction from all of the crazy in the world right now.."

"I have a feeling it will, but I see you're rolling solo tonight?"

Fitz just knew one of those types of questions were coming, but nonetheless he went with it "Actually my brother's here with me, he's inside. And my girl friend's off working otherwise she would be here; she's super bummed to be missing this."

"Oh that's nice, a little sibling bonding. But It's a bummer when work comes before play, huh?"

"Indeed."

"Well I'm not gonna hold you up as I know you have to take more photos before heading in but good luck with the album and everything, truly."

"That's very kind, thank you." Fitz shook her hand, and turned to see where he needed to move next for the photo's and among the chaos, he overheard numerous photographers yelling Adnan's name.

* * *

 **song: rear view - zayn**


End file.
